A Russian official claimed the attacks on Hezbollah’s pagers were intended to “provoke a major war”.

Nine people died and thousands more were wounded in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday after communication devices, used by the militant group Hezbollah, abruptly exploded.

A similar event unfolded on Wednesday when two-way radios and more pagers were detonated again across Lebanon.

There are fears these acts of violence could escalate tensions in the region.

The Iranian-backed militants in the Lebanese group are already blaming Israel, as the two have been exchanging fire over their border for months.

Israel is yet to comment on the incident.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, the foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the act was a “gross violation of its sovereignty”, but avoided blaming any one party.

She continued: “We strongly condemn the unprecedented attack on friendly Lebanon and its citizens, which constitutes a gross violation of its sovereignty and a serious challenge to international law with the use of unconventional weapons.

“We offer our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wish prompt recovery to the injured.”

Zakharova claimed it was “another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon, which has affected thousands of innocent people.”

“In all likelihood the organisers of this high-tech attack purposefully sought to foment a large-scale armed confrontation with the aim to provoke a major war in the Middle East,” she speculated.

The Kremlin official added: “Such irresponsible actions are fraught with extremely dangerous consequences, as they provoke a new round of escalation.”

Zakharova took the chance to take a dig at the West, too, saying: “It is necessary to conduct a comprehensive investigation into this crime and bring all those responsible to justice to ensure that this act of terrorism should not be swept under the carpet, which the Western countries have been trying to do in relation to the investigation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions.”

The Nord Stream pipelines exported natural gas from Russia to Germany for distribution across Europe, but were attacked in 2022.

The Kremlin also said on Wednesday that it was “necessary to get to the bottom” of what happened with the pagers in Lebanon.

“What happened – whatever it is – is certainly leading to an escalation of tensions. The region is in a volatile state. Of course, each of these incidents can become a trigger for the situation to get out of control,” the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.