Hezbollah admits Israel dealt a severe blow with exploding pagers and walkie talkies, but neither side seems to heed U.S. calls to avoid a wider war.

The absence of a full-blown war in Lebanon has been touted as a core U.S. achievement, but now Washington’s grip on the crisis appears more tenuous than ever.

At least 12 people were killed, including an 11-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, and more than 2,700 people injured in the coordinated explosions of pagers that belonged to Hezbollah members. A day later,