BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept 18, 2024 (AFP) - The United Nations said pager explosions that killed nine people and wounded 2,800 across Lebanon Tuesday marked "an extremely concerning escalation" nearly one year into the Gaza war.

"The developments today mark an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context," UN special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement.

She urged "all concerned actors to refrain from any further action, or bellicose rhetoric, which could trigger a wider conflagration that nobody can afford".