Hezbollah pagers explode, killing 9 and injuring thousands in Lebanon

Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded simultaneously across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 9 and injuring over 2,700, according to Lebanese health officials.
“Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency initially reported that ‘the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology, and dozens of injuries were reported’ in Beirut’s southern suburbs and other areas,” per Fox News.
The explosions occurred at approximately 3:30 p.m. local time.
Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary says the country blames “Israeli aggression” after the pagers exploded. He is the first Lebanese official to fault Israel, according to The Times of Israel.
Israel is refusing to comment on the explosions. Hezbollah holds Israel “fully responsible for this criminal attack,” per CNN.
This is just the latest escalation in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia that is a U.S. State Department-designated terrorist organization.
According to CNN, the pager attack represents the latest escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of rockets at Israel since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, and Israel has retaliated with strikes against Hamas fighters.
In July, Israel killed Fu’ad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, after a Hezbollah missile strike on Northern Israel killed 12 children and teens. Hezbollah retaliated to Shukr’s assassination by firing 300 rockets and drones on Israel.
“A Hezbollah official, speaking to the outlet on condition of anonymity, described the incident as a detonation that was the “biggest security breach” during the nearly year-long war with Israel,” per Fox News.
The pager explosions reveal a breach in Hezbollah’s militia operations, underscoring the group’s vulnerability and exposure to Israeli intelligence and communications networks, according to CNN.
“Hezbollah fighters have been using pagers as a low-tech means to try and avoid Israeli tracking of their locations, two sources familiar with the group’s operations told Reuters earlier this year. A pager is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays messages,” per Reuters.
Experts have two major theories to explain how hundreds of pagers could have exploded simultaneously.
According to CNN, one theory proposed that there was a cybersecurity breach that led to the overheating and detonation of the pagers’ batteries. The alternative theory suggest a “supply chain attack,” where the pagers were altered during the manufacturing and shipping process.
David Kennedy, a former National Security Agency intelligence analyst, shared with CNN that the explosions shown in the online videos seem too big to be a direct cyberhack to overload the pagers’ batteries.
Kennedy suggests the second theory to be more reasonable.
“It’s more likely that Israel had human operatives … in Hezbollah. … The pagers would have been implanted with explosives and likely only to detonate when a certain message was received,” he said.
“The complexity needed to pull this off is incredible. It would have required many different intelligence components and execution. Human intelligence (HUMINT) would be the main method used to pull this off, along with intercepting the supply chain in order to make modifications to the pagers,” Kennedy said, per CNN.
In a briefing, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller shared, “The U.S. was not aware of this incident in advance, and at this point, we’re gathering information.”
Miller said officials were gathering information through diplomatic channels, but it is unclear if the U.S. has had contact with Lebanese and Israeli officials.