In what appears to be a sophisticated, remote attack, pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria Tuesday
Hundreds of Pagers Exploded In Lebanon And Syria
In what appears to be a sophisticated, remote attack, pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria Tuesday, killing at least nine people – including an 8-year-old girl – and wounding thousands more.
A pager, also known as a beeper or bleeper, is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknowledge, reply to, and originate messages using an internal transmitter.
Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon, where they have been exchanging rocket fire with Israel across the border for nearly a year in solidarity with their fellow Iran-backed allies Hamas, who are fighting their own war against Israel. A U.S. official said Israel briefed the U.S. on the operation – in which small amounts of explosive secreted in the pagers were detonated – on Tuesday after it was concluded. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.
The Iran-backed militant group blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, which targeted an extraordinary breadth of people and showed signs of being a long-planned operation. Details on how the attack was executed are largely uncertain and investigators have not immediately said how the pagers were detonated. The Israeli military has declined to comment. Both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government – they are separate authorities in Lebanon – quickly blamed Israel for the attack. The Israeli military, in keeping with its policy of not remarking on attacks outside of its own territory.
Lebanon’s foreign ministry condemned what it called an “Israeli cyber attack”. The ministry said in a statement that it is preparing to submit a complaint to the United Nations Security Council. Independent intelligence analysts have suggested the explosions looked like the type of “sophisticated” operation characteristic of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence services.
Why do Hezbollah use pagers?
Hezbollah has been very cautious with its communications. Previous airstrikes targeting their private meetings have highlighted the strength of Israeli intelligence. Aware that mobile phone conversations could easily be hacked and traced, they are likely to have switched to the lo-fi pager alternative to make it harder to be watched by the Israeli intelligence services.
