There have been simultaneous ‘pager’ explosions across the Middle Eastern country of Lebanon. So far 9 people have been killed and 2800 injured in this incident. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health confirmed the matter.
According to Al-Jazeera, although this pager is not widely used in different parts of the world, the Lebanese-based armed group Hezbollah used this device on a large scale in communicating among themselves. It is not yet known whether Israel has a hand in this series of explosions. However, this attack is a big blow to Hezbollah’s security.
This explosion occurred in different areas of the country for about an hour. The explosion started around 3:45 PM local time on Tuesday and the devices continued to explode for about an hour.
A source in Lebanon’s intelligence agency said a large number of wireless communication devices were detonated across Lebanon. Especially in the southern suburbs of Beirut—where Hezbollah has a strong foothold. As a result, a large number of people were injured. However, the source could not provide any specific information on the exact number of pagers that were detonated.
After the explosion, the Crisis Operations Center of the Lebanese Ministry of Health canceled the leave of all medical personnel and asked them to go to their respective hospitals to ensure urgent treatment of the large number of injured. At the same time asked them to stay away from using pagers.
How thousands of devices exploded simultaneously in Lebanon
According to Sky News Arabia, the Mossad, the intelligence agency of the occupying Israel, carried out the explosion through a very meticulous plan.
The media reported that the pagers that exploded went to Lebanon five months ago. The devices are used by the powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
The devices came into Mossad’s hands before going to Lebanon. Then they sent them to Lebanon. But in the meantime they placed highly explosive PETN on the battery of the device. Then on Tuesday, the device exploded by increasing the temperature of the battery remotely.
The Wall Street Journal reported that some Hezbollah fighters reported that their pagers became hot before the explosion. Soon the devices began to explode across the country.
A Lebanese security source told Qatari media Al Jazeera that the explosives placed in the devices weighed as much as 20 grams. And the pagers that exploded went to Lebanon five months ago. The sources said that an investigation is being conducted into how these devices were remotely detonated.
What is a smaller device than a phone?
A pager is a wireless communication device. It can be used to exchange messages. It does not require any internet.
Pagers were in use before mobile phones became available. Then it was used in hospitals and healthcare. There are two types of pagers. Only messages are received through one. The other can both receive and send messages. After 2000, the use of pagers disappeared completely after mobile phones became popular.
However, at the beginning of this year, Hezbollah began using pagers extensively. Because the occupying Israelis could easily track them if they used mobile phones. For this reason, they tend to use pagers without net. After the attack in Lebanon on Tuesday, the issue of Pager came to the fore again.