An ambulance transporting injured individuals to the American University of Beirut Hospital (AUBMC) following the beeper explosion on September 17, 2024. Photo credit: Mohammad Yassine/L’Orient-Le Jour
On Wednesday, for the second consecutive day, Hezbollah communication devices exploded in areas known to be the party's strongholds in the country. On Tuesday, thousands of pagers exploded in Beirut’s southern suburbs, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa, causing widespread chaos. The official toll of the Tuesday attack, announced Wednesday afternoon, was 12 dead and nearly 3,000 others injured.
Then, early Wednesday evening, a new wave of explosions in the same areas. This time, they involved walkie-talkie devices. The Health Ministry's official death toll for this second attack is 14 dead and over 450 injured. According to the National News Agency, three of the deaths occured during a funeral for victims of the previous day's attacks.
In a statement issued Tuesday night, Hezbollah placed "full responsibility on the Israeli enemy" and reaffirmed its commitment to "continue" the fight in support of Gaza. It also promised Israel would receive a "just punishment" for the attack, which several cybersecurity experts described as "unprecedented."
Here is what we know:
On the fatalities and the injuries
Tuesday:
Outgoing Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad announced during a press conference early Wednesday afternoon that the official death toll counted 12 people killed by the attack, including two children and two healthcare workers.
The number of injured stands between 2,750 and 2,800, according to the minister. Of these, 750 were injured in southern Lebanon, 150 in the Bekaa, and 1,850 in Beirut. Among them, 300 are in critical condition.
Most of the victims are members of Hezbollah, as the devices targeted in the operation were distributed to party members in recent months as an alternative to cell phones, which are especially vulnerable to cyber attacks and surveillance. Among those killed on Tuesday was Mahdi, the son of Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar. While there was an announcement on Tuesday evening claiming that the son of MP Hassan Fadlallah had also been killed, this was later denied by Fadlallah himself. However, local media reports that his son is critically injured.
Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was transported to Tehran for treatment after losing one eye and suffering serious wounds to the other as result of his pager exploding. Hezbollah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was not affected, according to a party official cited by Reuters.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based NGO close to the Syrian opposition, reported that "several Hezbollah members" were hospitalized in Damascus after the explosion of radio devices they were carrying. A talkie-walkie reportedly exploded inside a car traveling on a road near the Kafr Sousa neighborhood in Damascus.
Doctors mentioned that most of the injuries treated were to the face, particularly affecting the eyes, hands, and abdomen.
Wednesday:
The Ministry of Health reported 14 dead and more than 450 injured as of Wednesday evening, which is separate from and in addition to the 12 deaths and nearly 2,800 injured on Tuesday.
On the pagers
Tuesday:
The Mossad implanted an explosive compound in 5,000 pagers imported by Hezbollah a few months earlier, according to information obtained by Reuters from a Lebanese security source and another unidentified source.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that "the pagers that exploded were part of a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah of 1,000 devices," which they believed had been "hacked at the source." Hezbollah had ordered over 3,000 devices from the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, according to American and other international officials, as reported by the New York Times.
The Taiwanese company Gold Apollo denied on Wednesday the New York Times' report claiming it had manufactured the pagers. Gold Apollo claimed that the Hungarian company BAC Consulting KFT, based in Budapest, held a license to produce the pagers and was responsible for manufacturing the devices delivered to Lebanon.
"Under a cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand for the sale of products in certain regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC," Gold Apollo stated in a press release.
However, by Wednesday afternoon the Hungarian government had released a statement saying the tampered pagers were never in Hungary, and that BAC does not have manufacturing capabilities in the country.
To avoid Israeli surveillance and interférence, Hezbollah regularly urges its members not to use mobile phones, and a July report from Reuters found that Hezbollah had banned phones in the battlefield altogether.
According to sources close to Hezbollah, cited by the Wall Street Journal, some people who had a pager in their possession on Tuesday felt that the device was overheating and threw it away before it exploded. A message appearing to come from Hezbollah leadership was sent to pagers moments before they detonated, leading some cybersecurity experts to suspect a hack triggered the explosion.
Wednesday:
Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a security source, that the radios and walkie-talkies that exploded earlier in the evening had been purchased five months ago by Hezbollah, around the same time as the pagers that exploded on Tuesday.
On the ground
In the wake of the series of explosions, the day was dedicated to funerals in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in the Bekaa Valley, and in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. Ceremonies were cut short by another wave of explosions, triggering panic yet again.
On Tuesday, hospitals in Beirut, its suburbs, and those in Saida were overwhelmed by the influx of injured individuals transported from various regions.
The Ministry of Health asked all hospitals to remain on maximum alert and to treat the injured at the state's expense. The ministry also asked people "with pagers to stay away from [their devices] until the truth about the incident is uncovered." It further called for coordination with the Lebanese Red Cross to ensure all necessary blood units.
Minister of Health Dr. Firas Abiad also announced on Wednesday that "while 92% of cases are treated in Lebanon," transfers have occurred from the Bekaa Valley to Syria, given the geographical proximity, and that "some individuals will be evacuated to Iran," without further details. The minister also indicated that contacts were underway to secure aid from neighboring countries, including Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Turkey, and Jordan. Abiad visited Beirut International Airport Tuesday morning to welcome an Iraqi plane bringing 20 doctors and medical staff to Beirut, as well as 15 tons of medical supplies.
An appeal not to publish information, photos, or videos of the injured and victims, as well as the targeted areas, is also circulating on social media within Hezbollah circles. "This information is what the enemy is waiting for," one of the posts read.
On the scope of the attacks
A Hezbollah official cited by Reuters claimed that the pager detonations constitute "the greatest security breach to date," a source close to the party told AFP that it was an "Israeli hack," and the second Hezbollah statement released Tuesday evening, said the party holds "the Israeli enemy fully responsible."
A close adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted in a message on X — which he later deleted — that Israel is behind the explosions in Lebanon. According to Haaretz, which does not name the adviser, Netanyahu's office has asserted that this adviser is not a spokesperson and cannot speak on behalf of the government.
The morning after the attacks, the Israeli army radio announced that the 98th elite division of the Israeli army was to be redeployed from the Gaza Strip to the northern front, along the border with Lebanon.
Nasrallah is due to give a speech on Thursday at 5 p.m. Beirut time, in light of the latest events. It's unknown whether he will address the party's plans for retaliation, but Hezbollah has already announced that it will "continue" the fight to support Gaza. Hezbollah's retaliatory strike against Israel for the assassination of top military commander Fouad Shukur came almost one month following the Israeli strike that killed him.
International Condemnations
On the diplomatic front, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter condemned the "massive terrorist attack in Lebanon and Syria." In a message posted on X, she referred to it as a "brutal escalation of violence."
"Silence is not an option," she wrote. "An international investigation is necessary. The bloodshed must stop."
Moscow and Tehran, unsurprisingly, "condemned" the attack. "The massive pager detonations in Lebanon require an investigation and international attention," said Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moscow, which called for "restraint" on Wednesday morning, also denounced it as a "hybrid act of war" aimed at "provoking a large-scale war in the region." The unprecedented attack was also described as a "mass killing" by the Iranian presidency.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan expressed his sympathies to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati during a telephone call, according to the Turkish public news agency Anadolu.
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, condemned "the attacks that jeopardize the security and stability of Lebanon and increase the risk of escalation in the region," deeming the situation "concerning."
