Hezbollah Pager Explosions in Lebanon and Syria – Everything We Know and the Questions That Remain

At least nine people were killed and thousands injured when Hezbollah electronic pagers exploded simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria.

Most of the explosions occurred in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Additional explosions were reported in the Syrian capital, Damascus, where Hezbollah members are based.

The explosions began in Beirut at about 3:30 p.m. local time. Witnesses reported seeing smoke coming from people’s pockets before seeing small explosions that sounded like fireworks. One clip showed an explosion in the pants pocket of a man standing at a store checkout. The explosions lasted about an hour, and people began pouring into hospitals. Lebanese Public Health Minister Firass Abiad said most of the injuries were to hands and faces.

Hezbollah, backed by Iran and allied with Hamas, controls southern Lebanon, where it has been exchanging rocket fire with Israel for almost a year over the war in Gaza.

This happened when Hamas carried out a bloody act of terror in Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas.

A day later, after Israel launched an air and later ground attack on Gaza that killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel. They vowed not to stop firing rockets until Israel ended the war in Gaza.

The explosions of hundreds, if not thousands, of electronic pagers used by Hezbollah to communicate with each other could mark the latest iteration of this ongoing conflict. It also threatens to escalate the conflict again.

Who is responsible?

Both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government (they are separate bodies) quickly blamed Israel for the attack.

The Israeli military, in line with its policy of not referring to attacks outside its own territory, said: Independent that he “refrained from commenting.”

After issuing a statement saying the explosions were being investigated, Hezbollah issued a second comment saying it considered Israel to be a “full-fledged entity” responsible for the attack, although it provided no evidence to support that claim.

“After analyzing all the facts, current data and available information about the sinful attack that took place this afternoon, we hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which also targeted civilians,” the group said. They promised to “punish” Israel in response.

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it called an “Israeli cyberattack.” The ministry said in a statement that it was preparing to file a complaint with the UN Security Council.

“This dangerous and deliberate escalation of Israel’s actions is accompanied by threats to expand the scope of the war against Lebanon to a large scale and by the intransigence of Israel’s position, calling for more bloodshed, destruction and devastation,” the statement said.

How did it happen?

Reuters sources said Israeli spy agency Mossad planted explosives in 5,000 pagers brought in by Hezbollah.

A senior Lebanese source said the devices were modified by the Israeli spy service “at the manufacturing stage” – meaning somewhere in the supply chain during production or transport. Attacks using this method to hack software are known, but hardware modification is rarer because it would require a larger plan to take control of all the devices.

“Mossad injected a disc of explosive into the device that picks up the code. It is very difficult to detect it by any means. Even with any device or scanner,” the source said.

The source said 3,000 pagers exploded after a coded message was sent to them, which simultaneously triggered the explosives.

Another security source told Reuters that up to three grams of explosives were hidden in the new pagers, which went “undetected” by Hezbollah for months. Another Hezbollah security source added that the new pagers carried by Hezbollah members had lithium batteries that apparently exploded.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that the pagers were a new brand but declined to say how long they had been in use. However, they are believed to have been imported into Lebanon earlier this year.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said it had authorized the use of its brand on pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria, but they were manufactured by a company based in Budapest.

According to a statement from Gold Apollo, the AR-924 pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, a company based in the Hungarian capital.

The document states: “Pursuant to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our trademark to sell products in designated regions, but the design and production of the products is at the sole discretion of BAC.”

Other Hezbollah activists speculated that the devices may have been infected with malware, causing the pagers to overheat and explode.

Independent intelligence analysts suggested the explosions resembled a “complex” operation typical of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service.

Attackers would have to know at least the make and model of each pager to do this. The fact that the attacks were coordinated suggests that attackers may have also known the serial numbers of the devices.

Regardless of how the attack was coordinated, it constitutes a serious breach of Hezbollah’s security.

What does this mean for tensions in the region?

For months, there have been fears that Israel’s war in Gaza could escalate into a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Hezbollah activists, including commander Fuad Shukr, have been killed at various times this year in what appears to be Israeli airstrikes on Beirut and the Iranian embassy in Damascus.

Hezbollah has promised to respond to any attack — and has done so in this latest incident. It’s unclear how that might have manifested itself, but previous responses have included firing volleys of rockets and missiles into northern Israel.

The area was evacuated for the duration of the attacks, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday officially declared the safe relocation of displaced civilians back to northern Israel as one of the war’s main goals.

What’s in it for the person behind it?

The attack apparently significantly damaged Hezbollah’s communications systems – and was a blow to morale, given the scale of the security breach. As for Israel, sowing such confusion and discord could be a prelude to a wider attack on the Israel-Lebanon border, although there was little sign of the military build-up required.

In addition, intelligence analysts have suggested that the perpetrator may be signaling to Hezbollah that he has access to its supplies, which would be a major setback for the group. It would cause Hamas to question its entire security apparatus.

On Tuesday, before the cascading pager exhumations, Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service claimed to have foiled a Hezbollah plot to kill a former Israeli security official by remotely detonating an explosive device from Lebanon. So a case of “whatever you can do, we can do better” may also have been a factor.

What is a pager and why does Hezbollah use it?

Pagers predated cell phones, and were widely used in the 1980s and 1990s. They are one-way communication devices that allow you to send short messages via radio signal to the pager. Often, this would be a number you could call back.

Hezbollah has been very cautious in its communications. Previous airstrikes on their private meetings have highlighted the power of Israeli intelligence.

Aware that cellphone calls can be easily hacked and traced, they likely switched to a low-quality pager as an alternative to making it harder for Israeli intelligence to track them. The dangers of cellphones have long been clear to Hezbollah. In 1996, Israel assassinated Hamas bomb-maker Yahya Ayyash when his phone exploded in his hand.

Reports say senior Hamas officials, including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is hiding in tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip, have resorted to handwritten notes to communicate with other Hamas members for the same reason.

Who said what about it?

Reactions around the world have been mixed, with a source at the British Foreign Office saying they are “monitoring the situation closely”.

“We are particularly concerned about reports of civilian casualties,” they said. The United States has expressed a similar sentiment, as has the United Nations.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric described the events in Lebanon as “extremely worrying”, adding: “We deplore the civilian casualties we have witnessed. We cannot stress enough the risk of escalation in Lebanon and the region.”

Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that the country’s ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated in hospital. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi strongly condemned what he and other officials also said was an Israeli attack. Iranian state media reported that Mr. Araghchi made the comments in a telephone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart, Abdallah Bou Habib.

Hamas issued a statement on Telegram saying it “strongly condemns” what it also said was an Israeli attack.

The Houthis, another Iranian-backed militia operating in Yemen, described the incident as “a heinous crime and violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

“We are confident that Lebanon is capable of facing all challenges and has a resistance movement capable of deterring (Israel) and making it pay a high price for any escalation it may undertake against Lebanon,” spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam wrote on X, formerly Twitter.