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Nearly 3,000 people were injured after pagers used by Hezbollah — the Shiite Islamic militant group based in Lebanon — exploded across the country simultaneously in an apparently coordinated attack, health officials said on Tuesday (September 17).
Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abia said the blasts killed eight people, including a girl, according to a report by The Guardian. “About 2,750 people were injured … more than 200 of them critically,” with injuries mostly reported to the face, hands and stomach, he told a press conference, the report added.
Three officials briefed on the attack told The New York Times that hundreds of pagers — a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages — used by Hezbollah operatives were targeted. Hezbollah has been using such devices for years to make it harder for their messages to be intercepted.
Notably, the pagers that exploded were the latest model brought in by Hezbollah in recent months, three security sources told Reuters. Although it is unclear how these devices blew up, the Hezbollah official told The NYT that “the devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding”.
Another Hezbollah official told the Associated Press that the pagers first heated up and then exploded. The official also said that the devices were equipped with lithium batteries that blew up.
“Lithium batteries, when overheated, can smoke, melt and even catch on fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can burn up to 590 degree Celsius,” the AP report said.
The attack took place a day after Israeli leaders had said they were considering stepping up their military campaign against Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati characterised the attack as “criminal Israeli aggression” and called it “a serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty,” according to The NYT.
A Hezbollah source told The Guardian that they believe that the attack was “in response to the alleged assassination attempt by the Shia militia on a former top Israeli defence official, revealed on Tuesday by the Israeli Shin Bet security agency.”
Speaking to The Guardian, Yossi Melman, a co-author of Spies Against Armageddon and other books on Israeli intelligence, said: “This absolutely has all the hallmarks of a Mossad operation. Somebody has planted minor explosives or malware from inside the pagers. I understand they were recently supplied as well.”
Melman, however, also questioned whether there was any strategic gain to the co-ordinated explosions. “It won’t change the situation on the ground, and I don’t see any advance in it.”
Hezbollah began trading fire with Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked communities in southern Israel and sparked the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, says its attacks aim to support Palestinians who are under Israeli bombardment in Gaza.
The conflict has drawn in Iran-backed militants across the region. Hezbollah is widely deemed the most powerful member of the Iran-backed network, known as the Axis of Resistance. Hezbollah has said repeatedly it will not halt its attacks on Israel unless a ceasefire in Gaza comes into force.
While linked to Gaza, the conflict has its own dynamics. Israel and Hezbollah have fought numerous wars. The last was in 2006.
Israel has long viewed Hezbollah as the biggest threat at its borders and has been deeply alarmed by its growing arsenal, and the foothold it has established in Syria.
Hezbollah translates to “Party of God”. According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, the group is “the world’s most heavily armed non-state actor, with a large and diverse stockpile of unguided artillery rockets, as well as ballistic, antiair, antitank, and antiship missiles.”
Hezbollah originated during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), which was a result of “long-simmering discontent over the large, armed Palestinian presence in the country”, according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Amid tense ethnic and religious divisions, Palestinian refugees’ arrival from 1948 onwards – with the creation of Israel as a state for Jewish people – added to the tensions. Their presence also led to Israeli forces invading southern Lebanon in 1978 and again in 1982 to expel Palestinian guerrilla fighters.
Hezbollah was formed around this time, inspired by the formation of a theocratic Islamic government in Iran in 1979. Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also provided funding to the group.
The group opposes Israel and Western influence in West Asia. It has also, along with Russia and Iran, supported the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria during its civil war.
Hezbollah became more visible in Lebanese politics in the mid-2000s and currently holds 13 of the country’s 128-member Parliament. Along with allies, it is part of the ruling government. But in recent years, there have been protests against its work in the country with worsening issues of unemployment, government debt and poverty.
(With inputs from Reuters)
