An unprecedented series of small explosions occurred all over Lebanon on Tuesday, leading to at least one death and over 4,000 injuries when the wireless pagers carried by Hezbollah members detonated, local authorities reported.
Pagers began detonating around 3:30 pm local time, as noted by Hezbollah officials, who mentioned that the explosions affected “various Hezbollah units and institutions”. The explosions lasted over an hour, according to Reuters. Hezbollah released a statement reporting a “large” number of injuries encompassing a broad spectrum of severity.
In the immediate aftermath, unverified footage from CCTV and phones surfaced on social media showing hospitals overwhelmed with injured individuals, visible explosions around waist height, and pictures of damaged pagers. Observers connected to the region reported that the explosions generated considerable confusion and panic at the ground level.
“Hezbollah’s competent agencies are currently conducting a thorough security and scientific investigation to ascertain the reasons behind these simultaneous explosions,” stated Hezbollah initially.
Earlier Tuesday, Lebanon’s health minister, Firass Abiad, stated that 2,750 people had been wounded with 200 being critically injured. Since then, the number of casualties has risen as the extent of the attack becomes more apparent. The country’s internal security forces have issued an urgent request for citizens to avoid the roads to facilitate the transport of the injured to hospitals. Furthermore, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon suffered injuries during the blast. At the same time, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 14 individuals suffered injuries due to pager explosions.
The suspected perpetrator of the attack, Israel, has been involved in escalating conflicts with Hezbollah, supported by Iran, since October last year following an assault by Hamas. Following the explosions, a report by Al Jazeera revealed that Hezbollah attributed the blasts to what they called “criminal aggression” targeted at civilians by Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces, when queried by WIRED, chose to withhold comment. An anonymous Hezbollah official informed Reuters this incident represented the “biggest security breach” experienced by the group in the ongoing conflict with Israel.
The specifics of how the attack was executed remain unclear. Early conjectures on social media suggest that the pager explosions were possibly initiated by a digital hack leading to the overheating of the batteries. According to a report by the Lebanese Broadcast Corporation, initial intelligence hints at a breach in the pager system’s server which potentially facilitated the installation of a script causing an overload and subsequent battery explosion.
Footage shared on social media purport to show explosions across the country, yet the size of these explosions suggest they are not just from pager batteries. A widely shared image shows a damaged pager, possibly identifiable as the Gold Apollo AP-900 alphanumeric pager. However, some suggest the specific model could be the Gold Apollo AR-924, known for having a lithium-ion battery.
The AP-900 is powered by two AAA batteries, which indeed can explode under certain circumstances, but the magnitude of these explosions, as seen in videos, would be uncharacteristic for such batteries. Should the devices in question be AR-924 or another model with lithium-ion batteries, which pose a higher explosion risk, it still seems improbable that merely a pager battery could result in injuries to multiple individuals.
“Those explosions aren’t just batteries,” remarked Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy and a former US National Security Agency employee. “Based on the reports, it seems likely these pagers were intercepted by Israeli authorities and tampered with explosives, underscoring the dangers associated with supply chain security, notably in regions where it’s challenging to import technology.”
Gold Apollo has yet to make a statement regarding these claims to WIRED.
Williams highlights the complexity of such an operation which would require coordination between the operatives managing technology distribution and those involved with Hezbollah’s procurement strategies. He explains, “The integrity of the supply chain needs to be compromised discreetly to ensure that explosive devices are delivered to targeted individuals, without the risk of widespread danger in Lebanon.”
Recent reports on Tuesday have indicated an increase in Hezbollah’s utilization of pagers, seen as a measure to enhance communication security following breaches by Israeli intelligence. An article by The Associated Press reported that a Hezbollah official, who remained anonymous, mentioned the adoption of a new type of pager that malfunctioned by heating up before exploding.
Lukasz Olejnik, an independent consultant and senior research fellow at King’s College London, suggests that the likelihood of hacking is minimal, pointing instead to the possibility of explosives being planted within the pagers. “It seems that these new pagers might have been tampered with at the time of their recent delivery,” he speculates.
Michael Horowitz, who leads intelligence efforts for Le Beck International, a risk management firm in the Middle East and North Africa, reflects on the characteristics of a supply chain attack which could potentially span multiple years, requiring deep infiltration into the supplier’s operations to embed explosive materials in 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.
