In a bizarre alleged "attack", twelve people were killed and thousands of others, including members of Hezbollah, were injured after scores of handheld pagers exploded simultaneously across the country and in parts of Syria on Tuesday.
The explosion, being suspected to be a "sophisticated remote attack" linked to Israel, comes at a time of escalating tensions across the Lebanon border.
Lebanon Pager Explosions | What We Know
Pagers In Lebanon Explode Simultaneously: Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials of Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group, told news agency Associated Press that “several hundred” people, including members of the group, were wounded in different parts of Lebanon when their handheld pagers exploded. Later, reports of deaths started coming in, with the fatality count at nine at the time of last update in this report. The deaths include members of Hezbollah and a girl, and over 2,700 injured include the Iranian ambassador, government officials said.
Iran Ambassador In Lebanon Injured: Iran's semi-official Fars news agency, close to the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard, said on its Telegram channel that Mojtaba Amani, Iran's ambassador in Lebanon, received a superficial injury and is under observation at a hospital. Another semi-official Mehr news agency, also on its Telegram channel, reported that Amani was wounded by a pager explosion, the AP report mentioned.
CCTV Footage: One of the many CCTV footage that surfaced on social media appeared to show an explosion in a man’s trouser pocket as he stood at a shop. More photos and videos from Beirut's southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.
Pager Warning: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah earlier reportedly warned the group's members not to carry cellphones, saying Israel could use them to track their movements and carry out targeted strikes. Meanwhile, Lebanon's Health Ministry asked hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients and also asked people who own pagers to get away from them. It also asked health workers to avoid using wireless devices.
'Lithium Batteries Exploded': The Hezbollah official cited above, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the explosions were the result of “a security operation" that targeted the devices. “The enemy [Israel] stands behind this security incident,” AP quoted the official as saying. He added that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying had lithium batteries that apparently exploded. When overheated, Lithium batteries can smoke, melt and even catch fire, with temperatures of the blaze going up to 590 degrees Celsius.
Why Hezbollah Uses Pagers: According to Hezbollah members cited in reports, the group avoids using cell phones, which can be used to track a user's location and instead uses more old-fashioned communication means such as pagers and couriers who deliver verbal messages in person. Hezbollah has also been using a private, fixed-line telecommunications network dating back to the early 2000s, sources cited in a Japan Times report said. Israel, suspected to be behind the pager explosions, has killed Hamas militants in the past with booby trapped cellphones and it's widely believed to have been behind the Stuxnet computer virus attack on Iran's nuclear program in 2010.
How Pagers May Have Exploded: According to a senior Lebanese security source cited by news agency Reuters, Israel Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers ordered by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations. The pagers involved in deadly explosions in Lebanon and Syria were manufactured by a company based in Budapest, Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, whose branding appeared on the beepers, said Wednesday.
Who Made The Pagers: Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorised its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them. The pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary's capital, a statement released Wednesday by Gold Apollo said. Gold Apollo said the AR-924 pagers used by the Hezbollah militant group were produced and sold by a company called BAC that was authorised to use Gold Apollo's trademark in some regions. Experts cited in a news agency AP report also said the explosive material may have been put into the pagers prior to their delivery and use in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration.
Middle East Tensions: The incident comes at a time of rising tensions between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing almost daily for more than 11 months against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza, whose October 7, 2023, attack on northern Israeli areas sparked this conflict. The clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon, dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border since then. On Tuesday, Israel said that halting Hezbollah's attacks in the north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal.
Hezbollah Leader's Killing: Hezbollah is a close ally of Iran, which had threatened to retaliate for the killing of a senior Palestinian militant group Hamas's leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an explosion in Iran's Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel, which has not said whether it was involved. Later Israeli military claimed responsibility for a targeted strike that killed one of Hezbollah's founding members Fouad Shukur in July itself. Last month, Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah pulled back before igniting a long-feared war after the former launched a wave of airstrikes towards the latter, which responded with hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of one of its top commanders in July.
