STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Members of the Lebanese group Hezbollah received some brutal news today - someone is able to find where they are and even reach into their pockets. The men carried pagers in those pockets. And today, hundreds of their pagers exploded, injuring many people. NPR's Jane Arraf is covering this story. Jane, what's known about this?
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Well, it is really unusual. Late afternoon, Lebanese time, these pagers that are carried by many Hezbollah fighters and functionaries exploded in what seemed to be synchronized blasts. Hezbollah has been fighting Israel across the Lebanese-Israeli border. And these are not the old-style pagers, if anyone remembers those. These are devices that are used for security communications, and they're used widely by Hezbollah. Hundreds of people were wounded, flooding hospitals in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hezbollah has offices. And in the south of Lebanon, where they're fighting, there were so many injured, Steve, that the Health Ministry called on all hospitals to be prepared for mass casualties.
INSKEEP: I've seen some of the photos. You see people with wounds in the hip, where it literally was in the pocket, people with wounds in the hand, where maybe they were holding it at that moment. What was the scene like at the hospital?
ARRAF: Well, in Beirut, NPR producer Jawad Rizkallah went down to the American University hospital in central Beirut - the neighborhood of Hamra. It's quite far from most of the explosions, but it received a steady stream of casualties.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN WAILING)
ARRAF: He described ambulances trying to make it past roads blocked with people and civilian vehicles, some with tinted windows used by officials and commanders also bringing in wounded. Let's listen to a bit of that.
JAWAD RIZKALLAH, BYLINE: It's a very tense situation here at the UBMC (ph). Their army is here, as well as ambulances coming from the Islamic Health Authority.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Shouting in non-English language).
RIZKALLAH: Ambulances keep coming, as well as tinted cars.
INSKEEP: Tinted cars - does she (ph) mean by that some kind of Hezbollah authorities or officials?
ARRAF: You know the dark tint that some people in some countries put on their windows when they don't want to be recognized? It's those kind, yeah.
INSKEEP: OK. Who might be behind this?
ARRAF: Great question. We don't know. I mean, the immediate speculation, of course, is an Israeli attack, but Israel hasn't commented. We just don't know at this point.
INSKEEP: Do I understand this correctly? I think you said that they were focused in a particular area, a particular neighborhood, and it's an area that Israel had struck before.
ARRAF: Well, essentially focused because they were targeting, as you mentioned, these pagers who were with the Hezbollah officials and fighters, and those officials and fighters tend to be in those areas.
INSKEEP: Got it.
ARRAF: So obviously directed at Hezbollah...
INSKEEP: How are...
ARRAF: ...Not necessarily geographically but at Hezbollah.
INSKEEP: Very clearly targeted if it's going to your specific phone number, your pager. How are people elsewhere in Lebanon reacting to this?
ARRAF: They're kind of shocked, and it takes a lot to shock the Lebanese. Authorities directed anyone who has one of these devices to immediately get rid of it. Our producer in Beirut spoke with one man who came to donate blood, Abus (ph). He didn't want to give his last name because he's afraid of being targeted by Israel.
ABUS: I felt pretty worried about my friends and relatives and about the people in general. I went to several hospitals, and most of them, their blood banks are full already, which is good.
ARRAF: But he said the situation was chaotic and overcrowded at the other hospitals that he went to. This was something that nobody was prepared for.
INSKEEP: NPR's Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan, reporting on this day that hundreds of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members exploded in Lebanon. Jane, thanks so much.
ARRAF: Thank you, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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