How Mossad turned the outdated pager into a weapon against Hezbollah
At least nine people were killed and some 2,800 wounded, including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when the pagers used by Hezbollah militants exploded across the country in an unprecedented attack on Tuesday.
Smartphones, tablets and laptops ¨C these are the names that one would immediately think about when talking about communication devices. But how many of us have heard about pagers, let alone used them?
CREDIT: REUTERS
Who still uses pager?
Mostly forgotten in the history of communication devices, pagers, also known as beepers, acted as a transition between landlines and mobile phones.
So when news emerged on Tuesday that a series of pager explosions in Lebanon and Syria had injured thousands, everyone had the same question in mind ¨C who is still using pagers?
Why Hezbollah was using pagers
It turns out that the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah are still big fans of the outdated pagers, and for a good reason. Unlike smartphones that can be tracked to gain access to the user's location and other personal data, pagers cannot be.
CREDIT: AP
Pager explosion in Lebanon
But Israel's spy agency, Mossad, still managed to turn the pagers into weapons to hit Hezbollah.
At least nine people were killed and some 2,800 wounded, including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when the pagers exploded across the country in an unprecedented attack on Tuesday.
CREDIT: REUTERS
Taiwanese company distances from pager
Initially, it was reported that the AR-924 model pagers that exploded on Tuesday were manufactured by a Taiwanese company called Gold Apollo.
However, Gold Apollo founder Hsu Ching-kuang said that the AR-924 model was produced and sold by a European company called BAC, which had licensed its brand name.
CREDIT: REUTERS
How Mossad planted explosives
Security experts believe that Israeli agents may have tampered with the manufacturing process of the pagers and implanted the explosives. According to an expert who spoke to Reuters, just around three grams of explosives were hidden in some 5,000 pagers. The low amount of explosives meant that they went undetected for months. The explosives could have been remotely triggered, resulting in a low-density explosion that was aimed at creating panic and not much damage beyond that.
CREDIT: REUTERS
Israel vs Hezbollah
The explosions come at a time when Hezbollah is getting increasingly involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
Ever since October 2023, Hezbollah has been targeting Israel with near-daily missile strikes, with heavy-handed retaliation from the IDF. In recent months, around 170 Hezbollah militants have been killed in targeted Israeli strikes on Lebanon.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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