Thursday briefing: The sophisticated attack on Hezbollah, and what it means for a fractious Middle East

A person is carried outside American University of Beirut Medical Center, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded and killed when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon. Photograph: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

Good morning. Archie is away, so I’ll be bringing you this email with Nimo for the next month.

Assassinating targets with exploding pagers: as a plotline in a spy movie it would stretch credibility. Yet the authorities in Lebanon have been left counting the casualties of an extraordinary coordinated attack, that risks escalating the bitter conflict in the Middle East.