Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was not harmed in the spate of pager blasts across Lebanon, a senior Hezbollah source tells Reuters, Paralel.Az reports.

*** 20:04

Lebanon’s health minister says eight were killed and some 2,800 were wounded, including 200 seriously, in the pager blasts in Lebanon, Paralel.Az reports citing The Times of Israel.

Hezbollah has said that two members are among the dead. A young girl, the daughter of a Hezbollah member, was also reported killed after a pager exploded in her parents’ home.

Health Minister Firas Abiad says hospitals continue to receive the wounded and that most injuries are in the hand and face.

Meanwhile, a large Red Cross convoy is on its way to southern Lebanon, according to Al Arabiya. Footage shows dozens of white-and-red jeeps and ambulances lined up by the side of a road near a church.

*** 18:59

More than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, security sources told Reuters, Paralel.Az reports.

Explosions are reported to have also occurred in Syria, and Hezbollah fighters are said to be injured.

The Israeli military declined to comment on Reuters enquiries about the detonations.

*** 18:06

Hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, including fighters and medics, were seriously wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, a security source told Reuters, Paralel.Az reports.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the "biggest security breach" the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel.

The explosions took place amid heightened violence between Israel and Hezbollah, who have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza war erupted last October in the worst such escalation in years.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military to Reuters enquiries about the detonations.

A Reuters journalist saw ambulances rushing through the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut amid widespread panic. Residents said explosions were taking place even 30 minutes after the initial blasts. The security source added that devices were also exploding in the south of Lebanon.

Groups of people huddled at the entrance of buildings to check on people they knew who may have been wounded, the Reuters journalist said.

Regional broadcasters carrying CCTV footage which showed what appeared to be a small handheld device placed next to a grocery store cashier where an individual was paying spontaneously exploding. In other footage, an explosion appeared to knock out someone standing at a fruit stand at a market area.

Lebanon’s crisis operations center, which is run by the health ministry, asked all medical workers to head to their respective hospitals to help cope with the massive numbers of wounded coming into for urgent care. It said health care workers should not use pagers.