OREANDA-NEWS Moscow strongly condemns the massive bombing of pagers in Lebanon and calls for a comprehensive investigation into it, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"We consider what happened as another act of hybrid war against Lebanon, which affected thousands of innocent people. It seems that the organizers of this high-tech attack purposefully sought to incite a large-scale armed confrontation, seeking to provoke a major war in the Middle East," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a comment posted on the agency's website.

The commentary emphasizes that the Russian side "strongly condemns the unprecedented attack on friendly Lebanon and its citizens, which constitutes a gross violation of its sovereignty and is a serious challenge to international law using unconventional weapons."

"Against the background of increasing tension in the Lebanese-Israeli border, such irresponsible actions are fraught with extremely dangerous consequences, as they provoke a new round of escalation. It is necessary to conduct a comprehensive investigation of this crime and bring all those responsible to justice so that another act of terrorism is not "swept under the carpet", as Western countries are trying to do with the investigation of the explosions of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system. We call on all parties involved to show restraint and abandon steps that threaten further destabilization of the military and political situation in the Middle East region," the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

On September 17, pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously in different parts of Lebanon. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported the death of 11 people, about 4,000 more were injured, and the condition of 400 victims is assessed as critical.