Thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon leaving 26 dead and injuring thousands more. The explosions took place over two consecutive days.
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The Lebanon explosion news focuses on these devices, which were employed by Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, in their war-time emergency communication system.
According to reports, many of these devices particularly pagers and ICOM V82 walkie-talkies were booby-trapped with explosives.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, explosions rocked Lebanon as thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members. At least 26 people were killed, and thousands were injured.
Hospitals in Lebanon n the southern city of Tyre, were inundated with injured people leading to the establishment of a field hospital to manage the crisis.
Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack. The attacks took place just hours after the Israeli military announced it was expanding its operations along the Lebanon-Israel border as part of the conflict that began after the Hamas attacks on 7 October.
Although Hezbollah has pointed fingers at Israel, its intelligence agency, Mossad, Israel has remained silent on the matter.
According to security sources, the explosions were caused by small amounts of explosives implanted inside 5,000 pagers ordered by Hezbollah. Mossad is suspected of embedding a special board containing explosive material inside each pager.
Up to 3 grams of explosive material was hidden inside each pager, positioned next to the battery. The pagers were detonated remotely via a coded message sent simultaneously to 3,000 of the pagers.
The process involved tampering with the devices before they reached Hezbollah. A remote trigger mechanism was installed inside the pagers allowing the attackers to detonate the explosives by sending a specially coded message.
A similar mechanism was used in the walkie-talkie blasts that took place the next day, although fewer details have been confirmed about the exact method in that case.
The explosion occurred when a message, disguised as a legitimate communication from Hezbollah’s leadership, was sent to all the compromised pagers at 3:30 pm local time on Tuesday.
According to Lebanon explosion news, Hezbollah has accused Israel of being behind these attacks. Israel has not officially commented, but sources suggest that Israeli intelligence may have infiltrated Hezbollah’s communication network.
Hezbollah, which has been in conflict with Israel in southern Lebanon has maintained that it is acting in support of Hamas amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Many observers see these explosions as part of a larger preemptive strike by Israel against Hezbollah especially as Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a new phase in the war with a redeployment of Israeli troops to the north.
The second wave of explosions, which occurred on Wednesday, took place during funerals for victims of the first wave of explosions.
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The Lebanon explosion news highlights how at least 20 people died in this second wave, with many more injured including civilians.
The Lebanese Red Cross reported that over 30 ambulances were dispatched to the scene of the explosions in Beirut’s southern suburbs, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.
Additionally, the majority of the victims suffered severe injuries such as the loss of limbs and eye damage.
Lebanon’s health ministry confirmed the numbers with more than 450 people wounded across the country. Hezbollah’s media office confirmed that 13 of its fighters had died in the explosions including a 16-year-old boy.
The devices used in the attacks were sourced months earlier. Pagers were purchased from Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company, though these particular devices were produced by a Hungarian company called BAC Consulting under the Gold Apollo brand.
Walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah were identified as the ICOM IC-V82 model, manufactured by ICOM, a Japanese telecommunications company. ICOM discontinued production of this model in 2014 and they have distanced themselves from the attack, stating that counterfeit versions of their products may have been involved.
The pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah appear to have been sabotaged at the source, possibly during manufacturing or through a compromised supply chain.
Many believe that Israel gained access to the devices through the production chain, embedding explosive materials at a critical stage. Both Gold Apollo and ICOM have denied involvement in the sabotage.
Hezbollah has relied on pagers and walkie-talkies for communication to avoid detection by Israeli intelligence. Unlike mobile phones, pagers do not emit location signals or pings that could be tracked. This makes them ideal for maintaining operational security.
Walkie-talkies were also considered safer than mobile phones because of their reliance on radio frequencies rather than network towers.
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