The mystery of Hezbollah’s deadly exploding pagers

The Israel-backed Hezbollah militia launched an attack on Israel last Oct. 7: Attacks on the Security Forces in Lebanon

Footage posted on social media claiming to show examples of the explosions from around the country depict blasts that seemed too large to come from pager batteries alone. One photo circulating widely appeared to show a mangled pager with some legible make and model information that may point to the Gold Apollo AP-900 alphanumeric pager. Other reports indicate the pager model is the Gold Apollo AR-924, which has a lithium-ion battery.

The Israel Defense Forces told WIRED it has “no comment.” Reuters reported that an unnamed “Hezbollah official” described the operation as the “biggest security breach” the group has faced in nearly a year of fighting with Israel.

A day after the Hamas-led attack on Israel last Oct. 7, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia began firing rockets across the Lebanon-Israel border into northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel has targeted Hezbollah since the two sides started to trade attacks.

There were 2,750 people wounded with 200 being critically injured in Lebanon, said the health minister. The country’s internal security unit made an urgent request for people to stay off the roads to allow them to be transferred to hospitals. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was injured in the blasts; separately, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 people in the country had been injured by pager explosions.

In the aftermath of the explosion, there was a lot of damage to people and equipment as well as some wounded people and an explosion happening around waist height. The people with links to the region believe that the blasts have caused street-level chaos.

Hezbollah handed these pagers out among its militant operatives as well as its civilian functionaries, the group told NPR. An 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy were among those killed, said the acting health minister of Lebanon. Hezbollah is a political party in Lebanon and has an armed militia.

Jawad Rizkallah reported from Beirut, and Daniel Estrin reported from Tel Aviv. Itay Stern and Shir David contributed to this report from Tel Aviv. The person who contributed was from Washington.

Orna Mizrahi, a Hezbollah watcher and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said that the Iranians are still talking about retaliating. “After this action, the Iranians might have more appetite to do something.”

In the days leading up to Tuesday’s pagers operation, Israel’s leadership had publicly warned that only military action could stop Hezbollah’s attacks and allow Israeli civilians to return to their homes near the border with Lebanon.

As Hezbollah vowed that Israel will face punishment, the latest incident raised fears that the region may be pushed to an all-out war that the United States has been trying to prevent.

“Israel might be dreaming of reestablishing a ‘security zone’ in Lebanon, or replicating the ‘perimeter’ tactic — creating a buffer zone around the Gaza Strip — to push back the threat,” wrote columnist Zvi Bar’el in the left-leaning Haaretz. This would imply a long term occupation inside Lebanon, repeating the mistake and expecting different results.

Some Israeli columnists praised the explosions as an operational success but reported that Israel had not originally planned to detonate the devices now but did so out of concern that information might leak and compromise the mission.

Hezbollah had a smartphone, didn’t it? Second wave explosions of wireless devices on Wednesday afternoon killed two Israeli civilians and a child

Fearing that Israeli intelligence had infiltrated Hezbollah’s communications, Hezbollah officials adopted old-fashioned handheld beepers, security experts say.

A second wave of explosions of wireless devices ripped through Beirut on Wednesday afternoon, including at a funeral for Hezbollah members and a child killed in Tuesday’s bombings, Hezbollah said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke on Wednesday about “excellent achievements” by Israel’s military and intelligence branches leading to “impressive results,” but without mentioning the device attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Even before this week’s blasts, which injured and claimed the lives of Hezbollah operatives, the group had already feared spying of its digital devices.

“Just break it, bury it, lock it up in a metal box”, he said in front of a TV audience. For two weeks and a month you should do it. These people are deadly spies.

Lebanon’s official news agency also reported exploding home solar systems less than two hours after the radio detonations began on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Details of the alleged solar equipment attacks were still developing at the time of publication.

There were photos and videos posted to social media on Wednesday that appeared to show handheld radios in various states of destruction. The larger and bulkier devices that are shown in the images have a side of their case removed. Local media reports indicated that cars, scooters, and even buildings appeared to have been damaged by tampered devices.

The second round of explosions on Wednesday indicates that whoever conducted the sabotage and attacks likely had deeply rooted access and knowledge of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and operations. It shows that there was even deeper penetration that may have relied on many different electronic devices and providers. It’s the first of its kind.