Pager explosions|Ambassador Anne Meskanen says that no Finns are known to have been injured in the explosions in Lebanon. Thousands were injured in the attacks on Tuesday.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
The Finnish peacekeepers and the embassy staff are reportedly safe in Lebanon.
Explosions in Beirut have injured thousands and killed several people.
Hezbollah blames Israel for the explosions, and the attacks have a serious psychological impact.
Lebanon’s capacity and institutions have weakened, complicating the situation.
Finland Ambassador to Beirut Anne Meskanen tells HS that the Finnish peacekeepers and the embassy staff are safe in Lebanon.
Nor has he heard that any Finns were injured in the pager explosions that happened on Tuesday. There are explosions wounded thousands and several people died.
Meskanen says that a message has been sent to Finns living in the country.
The Shiite Islamist extremist organization Hezbollah blames Israel for the explosions.
Meskanen is currently in Beirut. “Right now, the sound of ambulances can be heard everywhere here,” Meskanen tells HS.
“At this point, however, the situation is not such that the representative office is not functioning normally. But that situation is being weighed all the time.”
Ambulances bringing the wounded to a hospital in Beirut.
News agency An AFP source says that the explosions were apparently aimed at Hezbollah members. Meskanen thinks that there have been explosions above all in areas where many members of the organization live.
He can’t think of any entity other than Israel that could be behind such a coordinated attack.
“Of course, one wonders if this is a sign that Israel is preparing the ground for escalation, but of course this is only one conclusion.”
He reminds that there have been messages from Israel’s war cabinet this week that the time is getting ripe and stronger measures are needed when diplomacy doesn’t seem to be working.
Meskanen says the strike will have a serious psychological impact on Hezbollah and their supporters.
“It is clear that this was a massive blow to Hezbollah. So thousands have been injured. I want to emphasize that there are a huge number of civilian victims in the crowd.”
He says he saw on TV how pagers have exploded in a store full of children and women.
“Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon has also been injured.”
Meskanen says that the attack is also an attack on Lebanon, not only on Hezbollah.
“The nursing staff here have been asked to return to their jobs. Lebanon is a state living in very great difficulties, whose capacity and institutions have weakened anyway.”
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