The flurry of ambulances in front of the American University Hospital in Beirut, receiving dozens of people injured by the explosion of their beepers, on Tuesday, September 17, 2024. Some sources have attributed the operation to Israel, targeting Hezbollah members. Photo credit: Anwar Amro/AFP
Thousands of people — many of them Hezbollah members — were injured and at least eight were killed across Lebanon on Tuesday when pagers used by the party simultaneously exploded, in an attack for which Hezbollah has said it holds "the Israeli enemy fully responsible."
These explosions occurred in several Hezbollah strongholds a few hours after Israel announced that it was extending the objectives of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to its northern border with Lebanon.
The latest report published by the Lebanese Ministry of Health, at around 6:45 p.m. Beirut time, announced at least eight dead and nearly 2,750 injured. Hospitals around Lebanon were inundated with wounded and several in southern Lebanon put out a call for blood donations.
The pagers that exploded were a new model introduced by Hezbollah in recent months, according to three security sources cited by Reuters. The Wall Street Journal reported that the detonated devices were part of a new shipment received by Hezbollah in "recent days."
In mid July, Reuters cited six anonymous sources familiar with Hezbollah as saying that the party had banned its members from using cellphones in the battlefield, instead requiring them to use couriers and pagers to communicate. In a speech in February, party leader Hassan Nasrallah spoke about the dangers of smartphones, calling them "spy devices that can be controlled."
Here are some selected insights regarding what several military experts are saying is an unprecedented cyberattack.
In a post on X, military expert and veteran war correspondent Elijah Magnier analyzed the hacking, particularly in terms of prior preparation.
1/ Technical intrusion: For Israel to embed an explosive trigger within the new batch of pagers, they would have likely needed access to the supply chain of these devices. Israeli intelligence has infiltrated the production process, adding an explosive component and remote triggering mechanism into the pagers without raising suspicion.
2/ Use of a third party: The involvement of a third-party seller points to a possible intelligence front or a compromised intermediary facilitating the distribution of these tampered devices to Hezbollah.
3/ Remote activation: The mention of an explosion implies a remote triggering mechanism, possibly using a specific frequency or coded signal that activates the explosive device inside the pager. This requires both technical sophistication and precise timing to maximize casualties.
4/ Security breach: This incident indicates a significant breach within Hezbollah's security protocols. The organization's failure to detect the tampered pagers before their distribution suggests a gap in their supply chain vetting and internal security measures.
Hanin Ghaddar, a researcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, meanwhile, speaks of "a very large operation that brings to light an important point: Hezbollah is completely exposed to Israeli intelligence and military capabilities."
"The Israelis can do whatever they want with Hezbollah members and personnel, anytime and anywhere," she explains to L'OLJ. "Even if there is not yet a decision to go to war, this attack is a means of pressure used by the Israelis to push Hezbollah to an agreement that strengthens Israeli security."
"The current context of all this concerns the next stage of this war: where will the buffer zone be? Will it be in southern Lebanon or northern Israel? The Israelis want to move the buffer zone to Lebanon and want to ensure that Hezbollah understands their capabilities."
"We are not sure if Hezbollah considers [this attack] as a serious provocation and whether it will do anything about it. Time will tell," Ghaddar says.
Meanwhile, Israeli journalist Anshel Pfeffer, a columnist for Haaretz and correspondent in Israel for The Economist magazine, wrote on X that a "A state which has the ability to hack into the communication system of an enemy organization isn’t going to reveal it has that ability just to wound the organization’s operatives, unless…"
1. As a prelude to a wider operation
2. To prevent a planned operation by the enemy organization
3. The (vulner)ability was about to be exposed
4. They already have better abilities
5. Distraction from a major (political or intelligence) fiasco
6. All or some of the above
