Thousands of Hezbollah members are reportedly injured, and at least a dozen killed after Israeli forces allegedly found a way to remotely hack into members’ old-school pager devices and make them explode in unison.
The alleged pager attack was initially reported by local media in Lebanon to have taken place in the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, with further reports of deadly pager explosions in Syria.
“Dozens of Hezbollah members are seriously wounded in the incident, security sources tell Reuters, with a journalist for the news agency seeing ten Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds,” The Times of Israel reported.
Since the initial report, an Israeli Times update said nine people are confirmed killed and close to 2800 more injured, citing Lebanon’s health minister.
Several images and videos since posted on X, taken around 4 p.m. local time in Dahiyeh, show chaotic scenes and blast debris.
One X user posted this video, captioned "Utterly Insane," showing the moment one of the devices exploded on the body of an alleged Hezbollah fighter shopping in a local market.
Warning disclaimer: video may be disturbing to some viewers.
❗️Utterly insane❗️
undefined Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) September 17, 2024
Reports that Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon had their encrypted personal pagers explode while in their pockets. pic.twitter.com/pUN0Ts40ta
“A mysterious security incident in Beirut causes wireless devices to explode in the hands of their owners,’ another X user posted, translated from Arabic.
“Injuries in all of Lebanon,” they posted with a broken heart emoji.
🔴حدث أمني غامض في بيروت يسبب انفجار الأجهزة اللا سلكية في يد أصحابها
undefined عٌـِـِِـِـرآقٌـ🇮🇶🔻ـي || Iraqii (@sumeri129) September 17, 2024
🔴الإصابات في كل لبنان 💔 pic.twitter.com/W5y0oAC0R0
The Israeli Times said the Saudi-owned Alhadath news channel quoted “unnamed sources” stating that the victims of the coordinated blasts included “top Hezbollah leaders and their advisers.”
The Saudi news channel also reported that “hundreds of pagers” were detonated at the same time. Around 500 Hezbollah members are said to have lost their eyesight.
Hezbollah is a US and EU-designated terror organization, backed by the Iranian government. A senior member of the group announced to Reuters that its main leader, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, was not injured.
About three hours after the attacks were reported in Beirut, it was revealed deadly pager attacks also took place in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
“Seven people have been killed… according to Iran’s IRGC-affiliated Saberin News. The fatalities were reportedly in the Damascus neighborhood of Seyedah Zeinab, a Shiite stronghold,” the Israeli news outlet said.
Following the September 11th attacks, many terror groups began using old-school analog devices, such as personal pagers and beepers, to hinder the ability of ‘enemy’ governments and military forces to intercept communications and gain knowledge about planned terror attacks.
In a public statement released after the attacks, Hezbollah said it holds Israel ‘fully responsible’ for the pager explosions and vows to retaliate, the Times said.
The Israeli government has not commented on or taken responsibility for the attack. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly asked all Ministers to avoid the press.
How were the attacks coordinated?
Since no government or group has claimed responsibility for the cyberattacks thus far, there has been much speculation as to how the pager detonations were precisely coordinated.
One Hezbollah official labeled the cyberattacks “a security operation that targeted devices,” and another stated that some type of “malware” was used to trigger the devices to detonate, sources said to the Associated Press.
Some media outlets have reported that pager owners had received a message on the handheld devices before the blasts, with some Hezbollah members saying they had felt the pagers heating up before they exploded, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Apparently, the encrypted devices were brand new models and bought for hundreds of members only months before, several sources told Reuters.
The Times of Israel reported that Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, in February directly ordered all member cellphones be replaced with the palm-sized pagers.
Tensions between Israel and Iran-backed militias in Lebanon and other bordering nations have risen since the Jewish state declared war on Hamas in retaliation for the October 7th attacks, which resulted in the death of over 1100 Israeli citizens and more than 250 hostages, with over 100 still unaccounted for.
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