Iran conducts 1,500 surgeries for Hezbollah operatives

People walk near an ambulance outside American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded and killed when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024.
People walk near an ambulance outside American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded and killed when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024.

Iran’s health minister said nearly 500 injured Hezbollah operatives were treated in Iran, with around 1,500 surgeries conducted to address eye and hand injuries in the wake of pager and walkie-talkie explosions carried out by Israel.

Speaking to student Basij leaders from medical universities, Mohammadreza Zafarghandi detailed Iran’s medical response to the recent Israeli operation in Lebanon targeting communication devices used by Hezbollah, the most devastating attack to the group since it was founded in 1982.

“The pager system was designed in such a way that, upon explosion, one or both hands of the victims would be severed, and in many cases, both eyes would be blinded,” Zafarghandi said.

He explained Iran’s efforts to provide comprehensive treatment to those affected by the blasts, which killed at least 49 people and injured around 3,000 more.

It was only this month that Israel confirmed it was responsible for the two-day operation in September.

In Iran, critics accused the government of prioritizing treatment for Hezbollah operatives over Iranian citizens blinded during the crackdown on protests in 2022.

“The Islamic Republic blinded Iranian protesters and didn’t allow them treatment, but treats Hezbollah's wounded in Iran,” one citizen said in a video sent to Iran International.

In the aftermath of the explosions, Pirhossein Kolivand, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, announced that 95 members of Hezbollah, Iran's largest military ally in the region, had been transferred to Iran for advanced medical treatment.

Kolivand further confirmed that two teams of Iranian doctors, including eye specialists, were sent to Lebanon. In a separate interview, he mentioned that 12 doctors, along with nurses and paramedics from the Red Crescent, were also dispatched to provide assistance on the ground in Lebanon.

It comes while Iran is grappling with a severe health crisis, marked by a critical shortage of medicine and an exodus of healthcare professionals seeking better working conditions and higher salaries abroad.