The Iran-backed militant group said the wireless devices began to explode around 3:30 p.m. local time in a targeted Israeli attack on Hezbollah operatives. Experts say the explosions, unprecedented in their scale and nature, underscore Hezbollah’s vulnerability as its communication network was compromised to deadly effect. CNN could not geolocate the image, but has verified it was published Tuesday, the same day as the explosions. Hostilities are at an all-time high between Israel and Hezbollah following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke twice with his Israeli counterpart, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to two US defense officials.

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Persons: Israel, ”, Hassan Nasrallah, “, Avi Melamed, ” Melamed, David Kennedy, I’ve, John Miller, Amos Yadlin, Nasrallah, Yahya, ” Yadlin, Kim Ghattas, Ahmad Kaddoura, Miller, Ismail Haniyeh, Mohamed Azakir, ’, Defense Lloyd Austin, Yoav Gallant Organizations: CNN, Hamas, Middle, GPS, New York Times, Times, US National Security Agency, Intelligence, Getty, American University of, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Reuters, Global, Defense, Israeli Locations: Lebanon, Iran, Gaza, East, Israel, Lebanese, Israeli, Sidon, Anadolu, United States, Iranian, Tehran, American University of Beirut