Hezbollah Pagers Detonate in Lebanon and Syria, Killing Nine and Injuring Thousands in Mysterious Attack

Featured & Cover   Hezbollah Pagers Detonate in Lebanon and Syria Killing Nine and Injuring Thousands in Mysterious Attack

On Tuesday, a coordinated attack involving pagers used by Hezbollah members resulted in explosions across Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and injuring several thousand more. The blasts occurred nearly simultaneously, and Hezbollah, along with the Lebanese government, quickly placed blame on Israel for what appeared to be a remote-controlled, high-tech strike.

An American official, speaking anonymously, confirmed that Israel had briefed the U.S. following the operation, in which small amounts of explosives hidden in the pagers were remotely detonated. However, the official was not authorized to discuss the details publicly. The Israeli military has declined to comment on the incident.

Among the injured was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. The explosions took place amidst growing tensions between Hezbollah, a group backed by Iran, and Israel. The two sides have exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the beginning of the current conflict, sparked by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

The pagers in question were reportedly acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had instructed its members in February to stop using cellphones due to concerns about Israeli intelligence tracking them. A Hezbollah representative, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the pagers were from a new brand, though they declined to specify how long they had been in use.

The Taiwanese company Gold Apollo disclosed on Wednesday that its brand had been used on the AR-924 pagers linked to Hezbollah, but emphasized that the devices were produced and sold by another company called BAC.

The explosions occurred around 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, as people went about their daily activities—shopping, sitting in cafes, or driving through afternoon traffic. The pagers suddenly started to overheat and then explode, creating panic and leaving gruesome scenes in their wake.

While it is believed that most of the victims were Hezbollah members, it remains unclear whether non-members also possessed the affected pagers. The explosions took place mainly in Hezbollah-dominated areas, including a southern suburb of Beirut and the Beqaa region in eastern Lebanon, as well as Damascus, according to security officials. The Hezbollah official, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that the group is investigating the incident but declined to share more information.

These pager explosions occurred shortly after Israel’s internal security agency announced it had foiled a Hezbollah plot to assassinate a former senior Israeli security official using a remotely detonated explosive device.

The U.S. government has denied any prior knowledge of the incident. “At this point, we’re gathering information,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, emphasizing that the U.S. was not involved.

Experts suggest the operation was long in the making, possibly involving the infiltration of the supply chain for the pagers, which were rigged with explosives before being delivered to Lebanon. This hypothesis is supported by the widespread nature of the explosions, which targeted numerous people across different locations with small but deadly blasts.

A video circulating online shows one of the victims, a man shopping for groceries, as the pager at his hip suddenly detonates, sending him to the ground while bystanders flee. At hospitals, which were quickly overwhelmed, victims with missing limbs, severely damaged faces, and deep wounds in their torsos were rushed in. According to reporters from the Associated Press, a car door on a major Beirut road was found splattered with blood, while the vehicle’s windshield was shattered.

Lebanon’s Health Minister Firas Abiad provided an update on the toll during an interview with Qatar’s Al Jazeera network, confirming that at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, had been killed. The number of injured reached 2,750, with 200 of them in critical condition. Many of the injured suffered facial, hand, or abdominal wounds.

Among the dead were eight Hezbollah members, according to the group. A Hezbollah statement confirmed that at least two of its members were killed in the blasts, one of whom was the son of a Hezbollah member of parliament. Later in the day, the group announced that six more members had died, though it did not provide further details about the circumstances of their deaths.

In a statement, Hezbollah placed full blame for the attack on Israel. “We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” the group said, vowing that Israel “will for sure get its just punishment.”

Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reported that Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was wounded in the blasts, though his injuries were described as superficial.

This incident follows Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s previous warnings to members about the risks of carrying cellphones, which he claimed could be exploited by Israeli intelligence to track and target them.

Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and an expert in explosive ordnance disposal, said that based on the video footage of the blasts, the explosive charge in the pagers appeared to be as small as a pencil eraser. He suggested that the devices were likely tampered with before being shipped to Lebanon, possibly by Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.

Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based senior political risk analyst, shared insights from Hezbollah members who had examined pagers that failed to detonate. According to them, the explosions may have been triggered by an error message sent to the devices, causing them to vibrate and prompting the users to press buttons. This action may have detonated the explosives hidden inside, ensuring that the user was present when the device went off.

Israel is no stranger to operations of this nature. Over the years, it has conducted deadly missions well beyond its borders, targeting key figures from groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Earlier this year, Israeli airstrikes in Beirut killed a senior Hamas official, Saleh Arouri, as well as a top Hezbollah commander. A separate explosion in Iran, also attributed to Israel, killed Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas.

Israel’s expertise in targeted operations is further demonstrated by its alleged involvement in the 2010 Stuxnet computer virus attack, which crippled Iran’s nuclear program, and its use of booby-trapped cellphones to eliminate Hamas militants in the past.

The pager bombings are expected to heighten Hezbollah’s concerns about the vulnerability of its security and communications systems, especially as Israel continues to threaten escalation in the ongoing conflict. Tensions have already resulted in near-daily clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, with hundreds killed in Lebanon and several dozen in Israel, as well as thousands displaced on both sides of the border.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the U.N.’s special coordinator for Lebanon, condemned the attack, describing it as “an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context.”

On Tuesday, Israeli officials indicated that stopping Hezbollah’s attacks in the north to allow displaced residents to return home has become a key objective. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant suggested that the conflict’s focus may shift from Gaza to the northern border, warning that time for a diplomatic resolution with Hezbollah is running out.

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