The Lebanese government and militant group Hezbollah are accusing Israel of planting explosives in their pagers, as hundreds of them detonated simultaneously on Tuesday afternoon, killing nine people and injuring 3000 others.  

The explosions happened around 3.30pm local time (10.30pm AEST) across Lebanon and Syria, with eight Hezbollah members and an eight-year-old girl dying, and others fighting for their life.  

Both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah are saying it was a calculated, remote attack, vowing to retaliate against Israel for this suspected attack. The Israeli military has declined to comment on the accusations.

The blasts, which lasted for about an hour, affected the southern suburbs of Beirut, known as Dahiyeh, eastern Bekaa and Damascus in Syria, areas with a known Hezbollah presence.  

Earlier this year, Hezbollah ordered 5,000 pagers amid concerns that Israel’s intelligence service could intercept their mobile phone communications. The pagers were manufactured by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, which has yet to comment on the incident.  

A senior Lebanese source told Reuters that the devices, which wirelessly receive and display text messages but cannot make phone calls, were tampered with by Israel’s spy service during the manufacturing phase.  

“The Mossad injected a board inside of the device that has explosive material that receives a code. It’s very hard to detect it through any means. Even with any device or scanner,” the source said. 

As small as 30-60 grams of explosives were placed next to the battery in each pager, and a switch was embedded, allowing the device to be triggered remotely.  

The devices, identified as the AP924 model, were used by Hezbollah fighters and medics. During the attack, many victims were drawn to their pagers as they rang, leading them to check the screens, which contributed to the casualties. The attack is being described as Hezbollah’s “biggest security breach” since the conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted earlier this year. 

The explosions occurred amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have been exchanging fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since Hamas’s October 7 attack. The blasts came less than 24 hours after the Israeli cabinet expanded its war objectives in Gaza, including the goal of resettling residents displaced by Hezbollah’s attacks in northern Israel. 

Lebanon by Yuwen Memon is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons Licence. This image has not been modified.