On Tuesday, about 5,000 pagers belonging to Hezbollah members across Lebanon exploded after being rigged with explosives. The blasts killed at least 12 people, including a child, and injured nearly 3,000 others.
Yesterday, more explosions occurred involving portable devices such as walkie-talkies, laptops, and radios, killing another 25 people and injuring 450.
Hezbollah has vowed “revenge” for these attacks, which also claimed civilian lives, not just those of its members. The organization has accused Israel, although Israel has not taken responsibility.
Lebanese intelligence reports that Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, placed explosive circuits inside the devices, which are very difficult to detect, even with advanced screening systems.
They then sent a fake message from Hezbollah’s leadership, which triggered the explosives.
In several videos of the explosions, victims are seen checking their devices just seconds before the blast.
Five months ago, Hezbollah received the shipment of devices they had ordered.
The walkie-talkies were reportedly manufactured in Japan and the pagers in Taiwan.
However, it’s still unclear at what stage the explosives were implanted. Hezbollah claims this was done during manufacturing, but the companies involved deny this.
The Taiwanese company has said that the pagers were produced by another company in Hungary that uses its brand name. The Hungarian company also denies any involvement.
A pager is a small wireless device that can receive and send messages but cannot make calls.
Pagers were popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but their use declined in the early 2000s with the rise of mobile phones.
Hezbollah uses older technology because, unlike mobile phones, these devices are more complex to track, making surveillance by foreign intelligence agencies more challenging.
The same goes for walkie-talkies, which communicate using radio frequencies.
Hezbollah has suffered a severe blow to its internal organization, which relies on the secrecy of communications between its members.
The group strategically chose older technology devices, but recent events have exposed a significant gap in the Lebanese organization’s security system.
Hezbollah’s attacks against Israel began on October 8 as a show of support for Hamas, with Hezbollah vowing not to stop until a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza.
In response, Israel has carried out attacks inside Lebanon, killing, among others, high-ranking officials from both Hezbollah and Hamas.
The attacks in Lebanon are bringing the country closer to a direct conflict with Israel, which could potentially involve both the U.S. and Iran.
Israel claims to be entering “a new era” in its war tactics and is strengthening its military forces along the Lebanese border.
Al Jazeera reported that Israel has effectively “sown confusion within Hezbollah and the broader society” and is “preparing for a third phase of the conflict,” which began with strikes at the core of Hezbollah.
