Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he personally ordered the detonation of the pagers and communication devices in Lebanon that led to death and injury of thousands of people.

In an interview with the US network CBS News, Panetta said the bombings, which killed scores of civilians and injured thousands more, “are a type of terrorism” and warned that they could lead to further bloodshed.

Antonio Guterres says 'everything must be done to avoid that escalation'

Al-Mayadeen reported that the new explosions were caused by explosions in pager messaging devices similar to the events on Tuesday, and some also reported the explosion of wireless devices.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday told reporters: "Whatever it was, certainly leads to an escalation of tension. The region itself is in an explosive state, and certainly, an incident like this, each one of them, has the potential to be a trigger for the situation to spiral out of control."

In response to the explosions of communication devices, specifically pagers, which resulted in numerous casualties, Al-Hakim stated, "We strongly condemn the criminal attacks carried out by the Zionist occupation regime in southern Beirut and several Lebanese cities, which have martyred and wounded many innocent civilians."

Lebanese Information Minister, Ziad Makary, condemned the detonation of the pagers – used by Hezbollah and others in Lebanon to communicate – as an “Israeli aggression”. Hezbollah said Israel would receive “its fair punishment” for the blasts.