UN human rights chief calls pager, radio attacks in Lebanon 'war crime'

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The UN human rights chief on Friday strongly denounced a series of deadly explosions of pagers and radio devices in Lebanon, calling it "a war crime."

Saying that he is "appalled" by the deadly attacks on civilians in Lebanon on Sept. 17 and 18, Volker Turk told a UN Security Council session that "these attacks represent a new development in warfare, where communication tools become weapons."

"This has unleashed widespread fear, panic and horror among people in Lebanon, already suffering in an increasingly volatile situation since October 2023 and crumbling under a severe and long standing economic crisis. This cannot be the new normal," he warned.

Emphasizing that "war has rules for each and every party" of all armed conflicts, Turk stressed: "All feasible precautions must be taken to spare civilians. Attacks must remain proportional to the wider damage they inflict."

Turk stated that "the attack should not be carried out" if the "attacker" is unable to make an assessment of its impact on civilians, and demanded "an independent, thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances of these explosions."

"This tragic situation cannot be seen in isolation," he affirmed, adding that it is "bound up with the war in Gaza, the spiraling violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian territory."

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 37 people were killed and more than 3,250 others, including children and women, were injured in a series of explosions that struck “pager” and “ICOM” wireless devices in Lebanon. There has been no Israeli comment on the blasts.