At least 12 people were killed and thousands were wounded in Lebanon on Tuesday when hundreds of pagers exploded simultaneously across the country in a mass attack that appeared to target members of Hezbollah.
The blasts — which came a day after Israeli officials said they were ready to step up attacks against the Iranian-backed militia — heightened concerns that Israel’s long-simmering conflict with the group might escalate into a broader war. Hezbollah and Iran quickly blamed the operation on Israel, an assessment confirmed by U.S. and other officials. Israel has not confirmed or denied responsibility.
With hospitals in Lebanon struggling to cope with the number of wounded, Israel and Lebanon were tensely awaiting a promised response from Hezbollah and its allies.
Here’s what you need to know about the attack and its potential ramifications.
What happened?
Pagers carried by hundreds of Hezbollah fighters began beeping for several seconds at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday with what appeared to be a message from the group’s leadership, according to two officials familiar with the attack. Then they exploded — in grocery shops, on sidewalks, even on a moving motorcycle.
Lebanese officials said that 11 people had been killed, including a young girl. Hezbollah said that at least eight of its fighters were among the dead. More than 2,700 people were injured in Lebanon — including Iran’s ambassador to the country.
In Syria, at least 14 people were injured, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned what he characterized as “criminal Israeli aggression” and called it a “serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty.”
How did the pagers explode?
Officials and analysts ruled out malfunctions and said the pagers appear to have been tampered with before they made it into the hands of Hezbollah members.
Israel hid tiny explosives inside a batch of Taiwanese-branded pagers imported to Lebanon, according to American and other officials briefed on the operation. The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
The attack affected pagers that were switched on and receiving messages.
The Taiwanese company some of the officials named as the supplier, Gold Apollo, sought to distance itself from the devices, saying on Wednesday that another manufacturer with a Hungarian address had made the model targeted in the attack as part of a licensing deal.
Why was Hezbollah using pagers?
Officials said that Hezbollah had ordered more than 3,000 pagers from Gold Apollo, distributing them not just to fighters, but also to rank-and-file members across Lebanon and in Syria and Iran. It was not clear when the pagers were ordered or when they arrived in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has used pagers for years to make its messages harder to intercept. The group’s reliance on pagers increased after the Oct. 7 attacks, when its leader warned that Israeli intelligence had penetrated the cellphone network, according to security experts.
Analysts said that in trying to guard against one vulnerability, Hezbollah had opened itself to another fatal attack. Abandoning cellphones meant the group also “took out a central means of communication,” said Keren Elazari, an Israeli cybersecurity analyst and researcher at Tel Aviv University.
Does this have broader implications?
Hezbollah was quick to pin responsibility on Israel for the attack and warn that there would be “punishment for this blatant aggression” — prompting fears that a simmering conflict between the two could boil over.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading near-daily cross-border fire since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 — and Hezbollah, its ally, began firing rockets into northern Israel in support.
The violence has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border and prompted repeated rounds of diplomacy in an attempt to fend off a wider war — and more direct Iranian involvement.
The cross-border clashes have intensified in recent months. As Israel scales down its assault against Hamas in Gaza, it has more of its forces available for a possible offensive in the north against Hezbollah.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said security officers met to review “preparation for defensive and offensive operations on all fronts.”
While the attack embarrassed Hezbollah and appeared to incapacitate many of its members, it has not so far altered the military balance along the Israel-Lebanon border. On Wednesday, Hezbollah and the Israeli military appeared to be locked in the same pattern, exchanging missiles and artillery fire at the typical tempo.
The post What We Know About the Deadly Pager Explosions in Lebanon appeared first on New York Times.
