‘Middle East holds its breath’ & ‘Downfall of Huw Edwards’ – Paper Talk

Wednesday’s front pages are heavily dominated by international news, with the latest from the Middle East featured as many of the leads. At least 9 people have died, and around 3000 people injured after pages belonging to Hezbollah members exploded across the country. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack and says they will enact revenge. 

Several front pages lead on domestic stories, with the backlash to the sentencing of Huw Edwards a popular topic. The former BBC presenter was handed a suspended sentence despite being found guilty of child sex images. 

‘Middle East holds its breath’ 

‘Netanyahu widens Gaza war,’ is the FT’s take on the attack.

The FT features an image of the moment a bag held by a man exploded in a supermarket in Lebanon’s Beirut. The broadsheet says the Hezbollah members’ pagers exploded across the country on Tuesday in an “apparent sabotage” of the devices. The pager devices are used by the militant group to evade Israeli surveillance, the paper writes. 

‘Unclear the purpose of the attack,’ suggests the Telegraph.

The Telegraph says Israel is suspected to be behind the attack. It says it’s unclear whether the pager attack “was designed to weaken the terror group before a possible invasion or was simply a show of strength” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “appease hawks in his country”.

‘Hezbollah vows to strike back,’ says the Guardian.

Hezbollah has vowed to “strike back” against Israel, says The Guardian. A 10-year-old girl was killed in the attacks according to Lebanon’s health minister, the paper writes.

‘Simultaneous detonations maim thousands of militia fighters,’ says The Times.

The Times features an image of an injured man on the ground. It’s being speculated that the pagers used by Hezbollah had been rigged with explosives and primed to be detonated remotely, it reports. Other experts said the devices’ lithium batteries may have been made to overheat triggering a blast.

‘Middle East is holding its breath and is on the brink,’ claims the Mail.

The Middle East is “holding its breath” says the Daily Mail, as it reports on the harrowing scenes after the devices exploded. The paper says the victims were “writhing in agony with hideous injuries to their faces, abdomens and even their groins”.

The Daily Mirror calls it a ‘bizarre attack.’

The Mirror calls it an “exploding pager hell” and covers what it calls a “bizarre attack” in Lebanon. 

‘Downfall of Huw Edwards’ 

‘Victim disgusted at lack of punishment for Edwards,’ says the Mirror.

The Daily Mirror leads with an exclusive interview who sparked “the downfall” of the former BBC presenter Huw Edwards. The 21-year-old says he was groomed by Edwards and is disgusted that he did not receive a prison sentence despite having indecent images.

‘Growing number of online paedophiles spared jail,’ says The Sun.

The Sun says Edwards is “just one of a growing number of online paedophiles spared jail.” The paper’s investigation reveals that such criminals “got away with hoarding” more than a million child abuse images “without serving a single day in jail.” The justice system “must be rebuilt” the paper says.