The Mystery of Hezbollah's Deadly Exploding Pagers | WIRED
By: Lily May Newman and Matt Burgess (WIRED)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Mystery of Hezbollah’s Deadly Exploding Pagers
The entrance of the American University of Beirut Medical Center on September 17, 2024, after hundreds of people were wounded when Hezbollah members' paging devices exploded simultaneously across Lebanon.Photograph: Anwar Amro; GettySave this storySaveSave this storySave
An unprecedented wave of small blasts erupted across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 4,000 after the wireless pagers of Hezbollah members began exploding, according to local officials.
Pagers started exploding at around 3:30 pm local time, according to a statement from Hezbollah officials, who say that "various Hezbollah units and institutions" were impacted in the incident. The blasts continued for more than an hour, according to Reuters. A Hezbollah statement says a "large" number of people were injured and said they suffered from a wide variety of injuries.
In the immediate aftermath of the explosions, CCTV and phone footage posted to social media, which has not been independently verified, appears to show hospitals flooded with wounded people, as well as apparent explosions happening around waist height and images of damaged pagers. People with links to the region say the explosions caused street-level chaos.
"Hezbollah's competent agencies are currently conducting a wide-ranging security and scientific investigation to determine the causes that led to these simultaneous explosions," Hezbollah said in an initial statement.
Earlier Tuesday, Lebanon's health minister, Firass Abiad, said 2,750 people had been wounded with 200 being critically injured. That number has since increased as the fallout from the attack becomes more clear. The country's internal security unit made an urgent request for people to keep off the roads to allow people to be transferred to hospitals. Iran's ambassador to Lebanon was injured in the blasts; separately, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 people in the country had been injured by pager explosions.
The perpetrator of the attack is widely believed to be Israel—fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has intensified since October 7 last year when Hamas fighters attacked Israel. In a second statement issued after the explosions, reported by Al Jazeera, Hezbollah blames Israel for the "criminal aggression that targeted civilians too."
The Israel Defense Forces told WIRED it has "no comment." Reuters reported that an unnamed "Hezbollah official" described the operation as the "biggest security breach" the group has faced in nearly a year of fighting with Israel.
It was not immediately clear how the attack was carried out. Initial reports on social media speculated that the pager explosions might have been triggered by digital hacking that caused the pagers' batteries to overheat and explode. One report by the Lebanese Broadcast Corporation described preliminary reporting about a possible cyberattack. "According to information obtained by LBCI, initial reports suggest the pager server was compromised, leading to the installation of a script that caused an overload. This likely resulted in the overheating of the lithium battery, which then exploded."
Footage posted on social media claiming to show examples of the explosions from around the country depict blasts that seemed too large to come from pager batteries alone. One photo circulating widely appeared to show a mangled pager with some legible make and model information that may point to the Gold Apollo AP-900 alphanumeric pager. Other reports indicate the pager model is the Gold Apollo AR-924, which has a lithium-ion battery.
The AP-900 runs on two AAA batteries, which, like any battery, could be induced to explode, but likely not with such force and scale as the explosions depicted in alleged videos of the blasts. If the pagers used by Hezbollah are the AR-924 or another model that runs on lithium-ion batteries, which can cause more dangerous explosions, it's still unlikely that a regular pager battery alone could produce blasts that could injure multiple people.
"Those explosions aren't just batteries," says Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy who formerly worked for the US National Security Agency. "Based on the reporting, these pagers were likely interdicted by Israeli authorities and modified with explosives. This highlights the risks of supply chain security, especially in places where technology is harder to ship to."
Gold Apollo did not immediately respond to WIRED's request for comment.
Williams points out that such an operation would likely involve operatives on both the tech distribution side and the Hezbollah procurement side. "You compromise the supply chain, but you don't want thousands of explosive pagers running around Lebanon," he says. "The mole gets them to exactly the right people."
Some reports on Tuesday indicate that Hezbollah recently expanded its use of pagers in an attempt to secure communications after other channels had been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence. The Associated Press reported that an anonymous "Hezbollah official" said the group had recently adopted a "new brand" of pagers that "first heated up, then exploded."
"It's unlikely that hacking was involved, as it's likely that explosive material had to be inside the pagers to cause such an effect," says Lukasz Olejnik, an independent consultant and visiting senior research fellow at King's College London's Department of War Studies. "Reports mention the delivery of new pagers recently, so perhaps the delivery was compromised."
Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at Middle East and North Africa risk management company Le Beck International, says if the attack is supply-chain-based, then it could have taken years to prepare and involved infiltrating a supplier and placing explosives inside new pagers.
"This is a major security breach, particularly if we're talking about a charge that was placed inside the devices—which, in my opinion, is the most likely scenario," Horowitz says. "This would mean that Israel has managed to infiltrate Hezbollah providers to the point of delivering hundreds (if not thousands) of devices used for secured communication."
The incident comes amid escalations of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in recent months, raising fears of a full-blown war. In the hours before the explosions on Tuesday, Israel said its war goals would include allowing 60,000 people to return to Northern Israel after they were evacuated following Hezbollah attacks, and it would not rule out military action.
Horowitz says the incident could be a "prelude to a broader offensive" and possibly meant to disrupt Hezbollah's communications networks. It is likely that replacing a large number of pagers would take some time to organize. Alternatively, Horowitz says, the attack could also have been conducted to show the "scale of Israel's intelligence penetration."
"This is a high-value operation that you wouldn't use just to cause injuries," Horowitz says.
Even if the blasts were not caused by a cyber-physical attack that induced the pager batteries to explode, it's still possible that explosives planted in the pagers were detonated using a remote command, possibly even a specially crafted pager message. Some footage appeared to show users checking their pagers right as the explosions occurred, though this could have been coincidental.
The operation could have a psychological impact on Hezbollah given that bombs may have been lurking undetected in such an unassuming device. And though Tuesday's attacks were notably aggressive, it would not be the first time Israeli intelligence has reportedly planted explosives in electronics.
Updated at 3:25 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Added additional details about potential ways the attack could have been carried out.
Updated at 3:40 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Added additional details about the pager model that may have been used in the attack.
Updated at 5:20 pm ET, September 17, 2024: Updated to reflect the latest casualty figures.
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Notwithstanding the pagers were manufactured in Taiwan and Israel most likely never got their hands on them, OF COURSE ISRAEL WAS BLAMED FOR THIS. Israel would get blamed if every virgin girl in Lebanon gave birth to a child at the same time, cause, after all, didn't some Jew pull that trick off a couple of thousand years ago? Israel is smart not to say anything, cause it's better that everyone imagines that Israel has some kind of magical powers and that God is on its side.
Arvo...I would certainly think Israel has their finger prints all over them..
The ingunity, stealth and intelligence certainly does not leave much room for anyone else..
Who ever thought of that one and how they got them into the supply chain is quite brilliant thinking...
Hezbollah will certainly have the wind up 'em now .
It's nice that you feel Israelis are that brilliant and inventive to be able to control pagers that were made in Taiwan and most likely not shipped to Lebanon and Syria through Israel. If Israel WERE capable of controlling the pagers they never could have got their hands on them to cause anything to happen so effectively, and if this was going to be an attack on their enemies, why didn't they do it to pagers held by Hamas, or Houthies, or even Iranians? The Israelis never had their hands on them so how the hell could they have planted explosives in them, and although I'm no expert in such technology, how the hell could a signal cause an overheating? This is a genuine mystery, but even you shouldn't speculate that Israel did it without at least SOME evidence, and there just isn't any evidence.
I have never under estimated the Israelis..
Anyone who does rarely lives to tell the tale..as Hezbollah have now found out..
Doesn't matter where the pagers were made..friends within friends shipments can be intercepted, copied or replaced..only have to see the drug lords doing that..
Will be rather fascinating when it does come out how it was done, if it is ever disclosed...
It was already a given Hezballoh would blame Israel as does any middle eastern country..you expect it..
From everything I have seen so far Israel has remained silent so not sure where this denial has come from about not getting their hands on them and that was at last night..
All power to Israel...
Appears they weren't manufactured in Taiwan at all but in Europe...under the companies name of Gold Apollo which they had a licence too..and Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 of them... nothing like raising suspicions..
If Israel could do this, I'd be really happy if they could make all Hezbollah\s and Hamas' guns backfire and their rockets and missiles explode on their launchers.
As I said friend of friends.. Israel has a lot more support than people realise..
No they don't make it public and they go quietly about their business in the back ground until all is revealed...and how..
And it also has a lot of detractors. The majority of nations at the UN, and the UN itself, are not exactly friends of or supportive of Israel.
When i first heard of this today , i was like , damn , pagers? thats old school tech they still make those? . Of course the article i read said it blew up in the guys crotch, and blew his testicles off.......whole new meaning to the term "fire crotch ". yeah thats it , operation .....firecrotch .... it could work .
of course with my mind i thought of Jeff dunham and achmed the dead terrorist , Jeff: so what happened to you ? Achmed : premature detonation . it wasnt pretty it blew my junk all over the market , people were running around screaming with little pieces of my balls and ass on their faces , see i still have no ass. or balls .
Jeff: all thats left is bones achmed .
Achmed : i guess that makes me one big boner ....
as religiously paranoid these guys are they will be doubly so now , likely wearing cups . what are they going to do with 72 virgins and no junk?
Too bad it isn't a tradition or custom for Hezbollah to carry their pagers in their underwear.
When I carried one many yrs ago , it was forward on my belt on my dominant hand side , or in the dominant hand side pants pocket if it fit .
i think thats how most would carry them anyway , suit or sports jacket in the inside breast pocket would be common as well.
heard hezbolla and hamas have a new song out , its called dingleberry rock ( to the tune of jingle bell rock )
they sing it wearing nothing , but a belt full of pagers all the way around .
Most of the wounds were at the level of the waist, face, eyes and hands, he said, adding: “A lot of casualties have lost fingers, in some cases all of them.”
Oh, that is really tearing me up.
Evening... thought it would...one of the pagers went off in the supermarket...the guy fell to the ground and everyone stopped stared at him and just walked off or around him.. almost as if they didn't want to know him.. thought that was rather odd...
Well, you have to take into consideration the kind of people you're talking about.
This is quite a strange story-- I can't imagine how it could've happened. But it did.
There were so many that exploded. Its hard to imagine that Israeli operatives-- or even workers in a plant where they were manufactured-- could plant explosives is so many.
And anyway-- how much empty space is there in a pager for sxplosives?
So it must have been the Lithium batteries.
So they might not have had explosivies inside but rather it was batteries exploding. But how could they all go off at the same time?
Evening.. reporting here only 3 grams of explosive was required so not much and very easy to hide...
They are also saying the pagers weren't made in Taiwan but in Europe under the companies name which they had a right to.
So the plot thickens...
Yes, it DOES.
Latest news is that the pagers were manufactured by a licensee of Gold Apollo located in Hungary. I guess as well it is looking more and more like Israel did the trick. Damn clever way to hurt Hezbollah, but again there was still some collateral damage (which will be hypocritically screamed about by the rest of the world), but there is going to be at least SOME collateral damage in ANY conflict, but a lot when the militants hide among the civilians, use them as human shields, hide themselves and their weapons and control centres in and under hospitals, schools, mosques, refugee areas as Hamas has done, with PROVEN complicity of UNRWA (but not admitted by the UN). Hezbollah militants also locate in civilian centres.
I thought it was a masterclass in asymmetric warfare. Nobody would ever see this coming.
Israel has told the US that it did indeed cause this according to reports on NPR this morning.
So I have seen. I just like that cartoon.
Overall, I think this attack, retribution, whatever you want to call it, is going to harm Israel's image, no matter how righteous the intent may have been.
Setting off thousands of explosions simultaneously on devices people have attached to their hip sounds like something the supervillain in a Batman movie would do. Its not hard to imagine The Joker telling Gotham City he would blow up thousands of people using their cell phones unless he was paid 10 billion dollars.
I understand Israel is the good guys but there is a perception problem with this stunt.
On the other hand, the targets don’t think Israel has a right to exist. I’d say it’s the victims that need to change their ways.
Are you Hezbollah's lawyer?
No, I'm Batman's.
Good, because the only thing Israel is demanding that Hezbollah do is to stop attacking Israel. Israel is not demanding 10 billion dollars.
I think I made my point and I'll leave it at that. I am all for Israel defending itself.
My support of Israel has always been patently obvious. Sometimes your comments are a little confusing about that.
Nope.