Amid fears of an expanding war in the Middle East following mass detentions of bombs surreptitiously planted in Hezbollah communication devices, Israel continued its assault of the Iran-backed militia overnight.

For millions of Lebanese, this week's mass explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies, with its bloody aftermath, is painfully similar to the horrific explosion four years ago of haphazardly stored ammonium nitrates that tore through Beirut's port,