Pager explosions.. What happened to Hezbollah members in Lebanon?

Nine people were killed and about 3,000 Hezbollah members were injured on Tuesday in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut after the wireless communication devices (pagers) they were using exploded, in an operation that is likely to have been carried out by Israel.

Despite the conflicting explanations about how such an attack could be carried out, here is what we know so far about this matter:

1- What are pagers?

A pager is a small wireless communication device developed in the 1960s for use in emergency situations. It relies on sending digital signals via radio waves to notify the user that someone has tried to contact him. Short text messages can also be sent via this device.

Before the spread of mobile phones, pagers were a common means of communication, especially among doctors working night shifts and emergency services personnel, and were also used in military and security fields.

2- Why do Hezbollah members carry it?

Pagers are relatively old technology that cannot connect to the internet, so they are somewhat safe from cyber-hacking and common spying and tracking attempts when using mobile or smart phones. That is why they are still used in military and security fields, which is probably why Hezbollah members own these devices.

Last July, a Reuters report revealed that following the killing of senior leaders in targeted Israeli airstrikes, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah resorted to “old-fashioned techniques,” such as using codes in messages and clinging to landlines and pagers, in an attempt to evade Israel’s sophisticated surveillance technology.

"Mobile phones, which can be used to track a user's location, have been banned from the battlefield and replaced by older means of communication, such as pagers and messengers who deliver messages verbally," the agency quoted two sources as saying.

3- How did the devices explode?

It is still too early to know exactly how these devices exploded, as explanations for the reasons for this are still emerging, the most prominent of which is that a chip was planted in all the pagers before they were imported and used by Hezbollah members.

This chip was activated through radio waves sent by drones launched in various parts of Lebanon by the Israeli occupation, so that these waves would detonate the chip or raise the temperature of the device’s battery, leading to its explosion.

What reinforces the previous theory is what Reuters quoted from Lebanese sources confirming that the communication devices that exploded were the “latest model” brought by Hezbollah in the past few months.

The American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, quoted sources close to Hezbollah as saying that the targeted devices were part of a new shipment that the party had recently received.

Another theory mentioned by the newspaper, where it said, quoting the security company Lubeck International, that the reason for the explosion of communication devices in Lebanon is most likely malicious software, adding that this software raised the temperature of the batteries, which led to their explosion.

4- What are the most targeted areas?

The infections were concentrated in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, but in reality there were no specific targeted areas, as the infected were all those carrying pagers, regardless of their locations.

Evidence of this is the injury of 4 people in Syria due to an explosion in their car on a tunnel road in the capital Damascus, where Syrian media suggested that the injured were Hezbollah members whose communication devices they were carrying exploded.

5- How many people are infected so far?

Moments after the explosions began, the number of injured people rose to more than 2,750 in Lebanon alone, all of whom were Hezbollah members carrying the targeted devices.

The Lebanese Minister of Health also announced that 9 people, including a child, were among the victims of the Pager bombings, and said that hospitals in the south had exceeded their capacity and were working to transfer the wounded outside the governorate.

The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those injured when a communication device he was carrying exploded, according to the Iranian Mehr News Agency.

6- What did the officials in Lebanon say about the incident?

The Associated Press quoted a Lebanese official as saying that there is a belief that the targeting of communication devices is the result of an Israeli attack.

It also quoted sources close to Hezbollah as saying that the communication devices that exploded were part of a new shipment equipped with lithium batteries and appeared to have exploded as a result of overheating.

Later, the party said in a statement that the mysterious explosions had so far killed a child and two people, adding that the party's competent authorities were conducting a broad and scientific investigation to determine the cause of the simultaneous explosions.

7- Have any statements or hints been issued about or from Israel?

A former senior official in the Israeli internal security service (Shabak) confirmed that the bombing of the communications devices of hundreds of Hezbollah members was an unprecedented security and intelligence breach.

An adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also pointed to Israel's responsibility for the attacks, before retracting his tweet minutes after posting it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office asked ministers not to give interviews or comment on the explosion of communications devices in Lebanon, and the ruling Likud party banned its members from making statements and giving interviews about the events in Lebanon.

8- International statements

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, commented on the bombing of communication devices in Lebanon, saying, "There is always a risk of repercussions of the escalation in Lebanon."

Source: Al Jazeera + Agencies