Hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously in Lebanon on Tuesday, at 3:30 pm local time, leaving at least 12 dead and almost 3,000 wounded.
Pagers, also known as beepers, are small communication devices that receive and display alphanumeric or voice messages via radio frequencies. They were widely used in the 1980s, but following the arrival of the first cell phones in the 1990s, they gradually went out of use. Hezbollah started using pagers after the group’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah instructed the group's operatives to stop using cell phones for internal communication and switch to pagers, as these devices are trickier to track.
Following the massive pager blasts, Lebanon and Hezbollah pointed to Israel as responsible, with Nasrallah claiming that Israel's aim was to kill some 5,000 people and stressing that this act can be considered a “declaration of war.” However, Israel has not commented on the matter so far.
Hezbollah sources said they received a message and felt that the batteries began to heat up excessively before the explosions. However, experts analyzing what happened these days agreed that such explosions, with such an impact, could not have been caused by a simple overheating of the batteries, but must have been triggered by a small amount of a powerful explosive planted inside the devices. The question is: How did explosives get into the pagers used by Hezbollah? According to sources who spoke to the media, agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad infiltrated the production process or delivery of the devices to plant the bombs.
Days after the detonations, it is still unknown how Mossad could interfere in the production and which company was responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of the pagers. Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo denied that it produced the devices, assuring that it only approved the use of its brand and that the Hungary-based firm BAC Consulting was in charge of production and distribution. On the other hand, BAC Consulting CEO Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono also denied her company's responsibility. "I don't make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong," she told NBC News. Additionally, Hungarian authorities confirmed that the firm has no production sites in the country. Meanwhile, Hungarian media reported that the Bulgaria-based company Norta Global Ltd was responsible for delivering the pagers to Hezbollah, while Bulgarian authorities said that the devices did not pass through the country.
A similar incident happened on Wednesday when walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon, leaving at least 20 killed and over 450 wounded. The Japanese firm Icom Inc., which produced the walkie-talkies that went off, said it has stopped manufacturing the model of the devices that exploded 10 years ago, adding that “since then, it has not been shipped from our company.”
The mass explosions happened at a time when Israeli officials announced that the military's focus will shift from Gaza to the northern front and the conflict with Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon border, raising suspicions that Israel is behind this sophisticated attack seem more real.
