Lebanese soldiers gather outside a damaged mobile shop after what is believed to be the result of a walkie-talkie exploding inside it, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Hezbollah was in disarray on Thursday (September 19, 2024) after a second wave of deadly explosions swept through its strongholds across Lebanon, putting pressure on its leader to exact revenge for the operation it blames on Israel.

The attack killed 32 people in two days, including two children, and wounded more than 3,000 others, according to Lebanese health ministry figures.

Attack on Hezbollah

Israel has not commented on the unprecedented operation that saw Hezbollah operatives’ walkie-talkies and pagers exploding in supermarkets, at funerals and on streets.

But its defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Wednesday (September 18, 2024) in reference to Israel’s border with Lebanon: “The centre of gravity is moving northward.”

“We are at the start of a new phase in the war”, he said.

Hezbollah is an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been fighting a war in Gaza since its October 7 attack on Israel.

For nearly a year, the focus of Israel’s firepower has been on Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas.

But its troops have also been engaged in near-daily clashes with Hezbollah militants along its northern border, killing hundreds in Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens more in Israel.

The exchanges of fire have also forced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border to flee their homes.

Reeling from the operation that targeted its communication system, Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said Israel was “fully responsible for this criminal aggression” and vowed revenge.

Hezbollah on Thursday (September 19, 2024) said 20 of its members had been killed, with a source close to the group saying they had died when their walkie-talkies had exploded a day earlier.

At 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Thursday (September 19, 2024), Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will give a previously unscheduled televised speech that will be watched closely by both his supporters and his enemies for any signals of what shape a response might take.

‘Wider war’

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the “blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security” was a dangerous development that could “signal a wider war”.

Iran’s envoy to the UN said the country “reserves the right to take retaliatory measures” after its ambassador in Beirut was wounded in the blasts.

The White House, which is pressing to salvage efforts for an elusive ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, warned all sides against “an escalation of any kind”.

“We don’t believe that the way to solve where we’re at in this crisis is by additional military operations at all,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The October 7 attacks that sparked the war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Out of 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,272 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.

In Gaza on Wednesday (September 18, 2024), the civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed five people, while the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants.

In Lebanon, the influx of so many casualties following the blasts overwhelmed medics.

At a Beirut hospital, doctor Joelle Khadra said “the injuries were mainly to the eyes and hands, with finger amputations, shrapnel in the eyes — some people lost their sight”.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorised its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said on Wednesday (September 18, 2024) that it authorised its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.

“Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded almost simultaneously Tuesday (September 17, 2024) across Lebanon and in parts of Syria, killing at least 12 people,” Government and Hezbollah officials said. Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Hezbollah began striking Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ October 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war. Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily, coming close to a full-blown war on several occasions and forcing tens of thousands on both sides of the border to evacuate their homes.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ October 7 attack. The Ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants without providing evidence.

Gold Apollo claim

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday (September 17, 2024) that it authorised its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.

Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday (September 17, 2024) in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding more than 2,000. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

The AR-924 pagers used by the militants were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement released Wednesday (September 18, 2024) by Gold Apollo.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorise BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.

Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told journalists Wednesday (September 18, 2024) that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years, but did not provide evidence of the contract.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as being “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications once advertised on Gold Apollo’s website before it was apparently taken down Tuesday (September 17, 2024) after the sabotage attack. It could receive text messages of up to 100 characters and claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life. That’s something that would be crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages have been common as the tiny nation on the Mediterranean Sea has faced years of economic collapse. Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them.

Pager attack death toll

Lebanon’s Health Minister says the death toll from the exploding pager attack on Hezbollah has increased to 12 people, including two children and an unspecified number of healthcare workers.

Health Minister Firas Abiad said that two-thirds of the wounded needed hospitalization, adding that the scale of the incident was far greater than the thousands wounded in the massive Beirut Port explosion in 2020.

“Most of the wounded were in Beirut and its southern suburbs,” he said.

Israel’s military claim

Israel’s military said they had intercepted two suspicious drones that approached Israel from Lebanon and Iraq on Wednesday (September 18, 2024) morning, the day after pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding nearly 3,000. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

On Wednesday (September 18, 2024), the Israeli military said they intercepted a drone launched from Lebanon over the Mediterranean Sea near the coast of northern Israel. Another drone launched from Iraq was intercepted by Israeli air force fighter jets. There were no injuries or damage reported.

Israel also began moving more troops to the northern border with Lebanon in preparation for a possible retaliation.

“As a precautionary measure, the Israeli military moved its 98th division to the northern border,” an official said. The division, which includes infantry, artillery, and commando units, has until recently been fighting in Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Hezbollah began firing rockets over the border into Israel on October 8, the day after a deadly Hamas-led attack in southern Israel triggered a massive Israeli counteroffensive and the ongoing war in Gaza. Since then, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged strikes near-daily, killing hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displacing tens of thousands on each side of the border.

An ambulance arrives to American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as more than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Scenes of people bleeding and being rushed into hospitals flashed on television screens and social media platforms on Tuesday (September 17, 2024) evening in Lebanon. The attack, targeted at armed group Hezbollah, killed at least nine and injured several thousands, including Iran’s envoy to Beirut. The Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the attack as an “Israeli aggression”.

CCTV footage of blasts in multiple parts of the Middle Eastern country surprised the Iran-backed Hezbollah as two of its fighters and an 8-year-old girl were killed. The militant group vowed to retaliate against Israel for the blasts. The simultaneous explosions occurred largely in the southern part of Lebanon—a Hezbollah stronghold. Israel’s military has declined to comment.

Lebanon explosion LIVE updates – September 18, 2024

But the biggest surprise of this attack lies in the weapon used by the perpetrator. The devices behind the serial blasts were unsophisticated, low-tech gadgets: pagers.

What are pagers and how do they work?

Pagers, often called beepers, are communication devices that emerged in the mid-20th century. Their presence was eclipsed by the cellular phones that grew in popularity in the 1990s and 2000s. And subsequently, the dawn of the smartphone pushed the pagers into the shadows. But the humble, palm-sized device had its own strengths that played out well in specific circumstances.

Pagers operate using radio signals, which are transmitted by towers and received by the device. They function as either one-way or two-way systems. One-way pagers receive messages from a central transmitter but cannot send replies. That means a user can receive numeric or alphanumeric messages, and the device alerts them through a beep or vibration.

In a two-way system, the pagers are capable of handling communication in both directions. Users can receive and respond to messages, which makes them slightly more advanced, but these are still limited in functionality compared to modern smartphones.

Pagers rely on a network of radio towers that broadcast signals over a wide area. In many cases, they are more reliable than mobile phones in certain conditions because their communication system operates over simple, robust radio waves, often penetrating areas where cell coverage might be weak.

Despite their technological obsolescence in mainstream use, pagers are still valued in healthcare, emergency services, and remote locations where cellular networks are unreliable. Their simplicity ensures they are more energy-efficient and less prone to network outages.

How are pagers useful in covert operations?

Pagers are relatively unsophisticated compared to smartphones or other modern gadgets, which make them less susceptible to high-tech surveillance techniques. They don’t have GPS or internet connectivity, reducing the risk of location tracking and hacking. Intelligence agencies rely heavily on digital footprints, but pagers are harder to monitor remotely.

Secondly, pagers use radio frequencies, which makes it harder for interception compared to cellular or internet-based communication devices. This feature makes them ideal for sending short, encrypted, or coded messages in sensitive situations. And with one-way pagers, the risk of being detected is lower since the device does not transmit a response, making it difficult for intelligence agencies or adversaries to trace the origin or location of the message.

Thirdly, their simplicity plays a key role in how they can be manipulated, which could be a highly likely reason as to why it was used in the Hezbollah attack. Pagers can be modified to include circuits that trigger a signal when a specific message is received. These modifications are used in covert operations to activate explosives or send alerts without raising immediate suspicion.

Where else were low-tech, remote detonators used prior to the Hezbollah attack?

While it is unclear whether pagers were used to trigger blasts prior to the Hezbollah attack, there are several instances of remote detonators being used in conflict situations.

Armed groups use radio-controlled Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to detonate explosives from a distance. Attackers use such systems to bomb high-profile targets, including police stations and government building.

These remote systems can even be deployed in a car or at the level of a doorbell to trigger explosions. And such devices are difficult to trace because they emit weak signals that could be mistaken for background noise or ignored by conventional detection methods. Simple everyday consumer electronics and communication gadgets can also be used to detonate IEDs remotely.

Why the pager attack will be a new tool in the armed conflict’s playbook?

Their small size and outdated appearance make pagers an ideal device to send short, encrypted texts that can’t be picked up by the intelligence community. But turning that unsophisticated device into a weapon to attack an adversary is nothing short of a page from a spy novel.

While Israel has declined to comment on the blasts, it is overwhelmingly clear who could have pulled off such a massive operation.

A Reuters report revealed that the pagers in the explosion bore Gold Apollo’s branding. While the Taiwan-based company has denied making the pagers used in the blasts in Lebanon, the company’s founder, Hsu Ching-Kuang, clarified that the devices were manufactured by a European firm licensed to use their brand.

Gold Apollo insists it was not responsible for the product and expressed embarrassment over the incident. Hezbollah, a militant group, reportedly ordered thousands of pagers, which they believed could help evade Israeli tracking systems.

Experts are hypothesising myriad ways by which this attack could have been planned and executed. But there is nothing conclusive yet. It is unclear whether the devices were bugged at the manufacturing level or at the supply chain level.

Nevertheless, the pager attack comes amid growing tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. The duo have been exchanging fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the start of the Gaza war in October. And this operation could very well start a new phase in the prolonged regional conflict.