People walk near an ambulance outside American University of Beirut Medical Center, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded and killed when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon. Picture: Reuters
Thousands of hand-held pagers exploded in Lebanon and parts of Syria on Tuesday, injuring thousands and killing more than a dozen people.
The pagers were commonly used by Hezbollah fighters, but some civilians were killed, including an 8-year-old girl. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel, which has not commented.
CCTV footage from Lebanon showed the devices exploding in civilian areas, including a grocery store. The Lebanese Ministry of Health has urged all citizens with pagers to dispose of the devices immediately.
Former senior security policy analyst at the Office of the Secretary of Defence, Michael Maloof, told Sputnik’s The Final Countdown that the attack seemed to be a precursor to a larger attack by Israel on Lebanon.
According to Maloof, the attack was designed not only to kill and injure but also to interrupt Hezbollah’s communications, a common military tactic before a larger attack. Maloof is not alone in his speculation.
Mohamad Elmasry told Al Jazeera that it could portend a large-scale invasion by Israel.
“It seems to me what you want to do before a large-scale invasion is to disable or disrupt the communication network of the enemy. I do think we’ll have to pay close attention to what happens over the next few hours and potentially a couple of days.”
It is still unclear how the attack was pulled off. A Hezbollah official speaking anonymously told media outlets that the pagers were a new model that included lithium batteries and unnamed security sources told US media that the devices were recently acquired by the Lebanese group, but the reports did not specify a timeline.
Former NSA contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden posted on X that it was likely explosives were planted inside the devices, rather than a hack that caused the batteries to overheat. It could still be possible that intentionally overheated batteries were used to ignite implanted explosives.
One anonymous Hezbollah official reportedly told US media that some Hezbollah members noticed that their pagers were heating up and managed to dispose of them before they exploded. Alternatively, modified devices could be used to reroute electricity to an implanted explosive after being given a signal, but that should result in an instant explosion without a heat-up period.
In Iraq, improvised explosive devices used against occupation forces utilised modified cellphones that when called, could be instructed to redirect electricity to an explosive charge. That tactic has continued to be used by the Islamic State group. Israeli media reports said owners of the pagers received a message shortly before the attack.
Remnants of at least some of the exploded devices appear to have been manufactured by Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based wireless company focusing on pagers.
In 1996, Hamas member Yahya Ayyash was assassinated by Israeli intelligence forces who detonated implanted explosive materials while he was speaking on the phone.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said at least 2 750 people were injured and nine killed. An additional seven people were killed in Syria.
Cape Times
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