At least nine people were killed and thousands injured, including members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, after hundreds of pagers exploded simultaneously across Lebanon and parts of Syria on Tuesday.
The Iranian ambassador and thousands of others were among the wounded in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack.
The Associated Press news agency cited an anonymous Hezbollah official who blamed Israel for targeting the device. However, Israel has not admitted any part in the attack and the Israeli military have declined to comment. Tensions have been rising between Lebanon and Israel, with clashes almost daily between Hezbollah and Israeli forces since the war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas began in Gaza.
The UK Foreign Office has urged “calm heads and de-escalation”. A statement added: “The civilian casualties following these explosions are deeply distressing.”
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Mossad ‘planted explosives months before they detonated’
Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside thousands of pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before they detonated, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.
The operation was an unprecedented Hezbollah security breach that saw thousands of pagers detonate across Lebanon, with victims including the group’s fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut.
The Lebanese security source said the pagers were from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, but the company said in a statement it did not manufacture the devices. It said they were made by a company called BAC which has a licence to use its brand, but gave no more details.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the devices were part of a recent shipment to Lebanon and appear to have been rigged to detonate at the same time.
If it was indeed carried out by Israel, the attack may have been a prelude to a larger-scale operation, or an invasion of southern Lebanon, something that some Israeli commanders desire so they can restore stability to their communities near the border.
It may also have been an attempt to deter Hezbollah from further escalation, by showing its forces what Israel is capable of doing.
It’s believed that the pagers attacked were produced by Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo, based on images of destroyed devices in the immediate aftermath of the attack…
The batch of pagers used by Hezbollah representatives is believed to have contained a small explosive charge within the device that was triggered by a simple message sent to the pagers, according to a former British Army munitions expert who spoke to the BBC…
Military experts suggest the method of attack limits the number of people who might inadvertently be affected by being incorrectly targeted – because the pager is such an old, outmoded technology.
Experts say the explosions, unprecedented in their scale and nature, underscore Hezbollah’s vulnerability as its communication network was compromised to deadly effect…
Hezbollah has long touted secrecy as a cornerstone of its military strategy, forgoing hi-tech devices to avoid infiltration from Israeli and US spyware.
Unlike other non-state actors in the Middle East, Hezbollah units are believed to communicate through an internal communications network. This is considered one of the key building blocks of the powerful group that has long been accused of operating as a state-within-a-state.
A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” they had been subjected to in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.
Publicly Hezbollah blamed Israel saying they hold them “fully responsible for this criminal aggression” which also targeted civilians, and threatened “just punishment” in return. The Israeli military told The Independent “no comment” when asked if Israel was behind it…
But whatever caused this extraordinary incident, it will only pour fuel on a fast-spreading fire in the region, as it careers towards the anniversary of the devastating war in Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) was on Tuesday braced for a response after Hezbollah accused Israel of being behind a wave of exploding pagers that killed at least nine and injured thousands.
Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, the IDF’s chief of staff, insisted Israel remains ready “for attack and defence in all arenas” without mentioning the pager attacks which occurred across Lebanon and in parts of Syria.
“We will update immediately on any change to [Home Front Command guidelines],” the IDF added.
