It was a cyber attack of a different type.
Pagers across Lebanon exploded and nine people were killed and over 2800 wounded, some of them critically.
The attack was targeted on the members of the US-designated terror group Hezbollah. Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, is also among the injured according to the state media.
Nine Dead and Over 2,800 Injured in Pagers Explosions Across Lebanon
The blasts started in Lebanon’s capital Beirut and several other areas of the country at about 15:45 local time (13:45 BST) on Tuesday. Witnesses described the explosions and said they first saw smoke coming out of the victim’s pockets before seeing a small explosion.
The NYT in its report said that the pagers received messages which came from Hezbollah’s leadership before detonating. The messages instead appeared to trigger the devices, the media house reported. The explosions continued across Lebanon for about an hour.
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad has stated that nine people including a girl were killed and around 2,800 wounded in the incident. 200 persons have been critically wounded. Most of the wounded had injuries on their face, hands and stomach.
The Lebanese minister has confirmed that the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member was killed in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Unconfirmed reports said that fourteen people have also been injured in pager blasts in Syria.
Hezbollah is an Iran backed political and military organization which has been banned in the United States and the European Union. Hamas which rules in the Gaza Strip is also backed by Iran and Hezbollah.
Among the dead are sons of Hezbollah lawmakers Ali Ammar and Hassan Fadlallah.
There are conflicting reports about the explosions. While some contend that the explosions were caused by the overheating of Lithium ion batteries caused by an electronic signal breach, others claimed that the Pagers were lined with explosives before being supplied.
Hezbollah operatives were forbidden to use mobile phones since they could be tracked by Israeli security forces. Instead they used pagers which is obsolete technology and could only send messages. It was widely used in the Nineties and early 2000 but with the advent of mobile phones lost relevance and is seldom used in recent times. Unconfirmed reports said that the pagers were ordered by Hezbollah from Taiwan last year but it is not clear how explosive devices were incorporated in the pagers.
Meanwhile Hezbollah has accused Israel of carrying out the attack and said that it will have to pay a heavy price for its follies. Hezbollah also termed it as the biggest security breach of its communications network
This is the first major attack on the group in the last few months. The group has been regularly trading fire with Israel in its support for Hamas which is at war with Israel in Gaza since the October 7 “terror attack”. Experts are worried because this is the first case of a security breach in the hardware supply chain as compared to earlier breaches which were for software.
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