How did Hezbollah pagers explode? Everything we know about deadly attack

Hundreds of pagers have exploded suddenly across Lebanon and Syria, killing and injuring people.

At least nine people have reportedly been killed and thousands wounded yesterday after a simultaneous explosion.

The explosions left chaos and confusion in their wake after the devices suddenly detonated.

It comes after escalating tensions in region between the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel.

Thousands have been wounded after pagers exploded across Lebanon (Picture: Rex/Reuters)

Up to 2,750 people were wounded, Al Jazeera reports citing the Lebanese security services and health minister.

Members of Hezbollah and the Iranian ambassador are said to be among the wounded while 200 others remain in critical condition.

Who is Hezbollah?

Hezbollah – born out of the long Lebanese Civil War – is both a Shiite Muslim party and a militant group. It is anti-Israel and cozy with Iran, regularly receiving weapons from the country.

It has backed Hamas since the start of October 7 tension between Israel and Palestine.

The group’s military power grew throughout the 2000s, and in 2021 its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said it had 100,000 fighters.

Since the October 7 attacks, daily clashes have occurred between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, killing hundreds and displacing many more on both sides of the border.

What happened in the Lebanon attack?

Hundreds of personal pagers suddenly exploded yesterday across the southern suburbs of Beirut called Dahiyeh and the eastern Bekaa Valley – both known as Hezbollah strongholds.

Shocking footage shows explosions at till points and markets as the small devices went off in people’s pockets and bags.

Many of the pagers were used by Hezbollah fighters to try to avoid Israeli tracking, Reuters reports.

Hezbollah said two fighters and a young girl were among the dead.

An official for the militant group, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident was the ‘biggest security breach’ since tensions escalated last year, according to Reuters.

How did the pagers explode?

The exact cause of the explosion is not yet known, but theories have emerged around hacking.

A signal could have activated a pre-installed malware. The worm would then overheat the lithium battery or detonate a small explosive inside the beeper.

Hezbollah is said to have ordered the devices months before they exploded, according to Reuters citing a security source.

The deadly explosions started at about 4.45pm yesterday (Picture: EyePress News/Shutterstock)

The senior source said some 5,000 beepers arrived in Lebanon in the spring.

Now the source has claimed the pagers were modified by Mossad – Israel’s national spy agency – ‘at the production level.’

They alleged that up to 3g of explosives were stuffed in the brand-new pagers which went undetected for months.

Analysis of the devices has revealed the stickers and format appear constant with the AR-924 model of pagers with Gold Apollo branding, a Taiwan based company.

However, the firm’s founder Hsu Ching-Kuang said the pagers were manufactured under licence in Europe by a company called BAC using the Gold Apollo name, Sky News reports.

Speculation focused the blame on the use of the radio network used by the beepers, suggesting it could have been hacked and then emitting a signal to the pagers, according to Al Jazeera.

Who is behind the attack?

Israel has been accused of the deadly pager attack.

The Israeli military has declined to comment on the attack.

Lebanese officials blamed it on ‘Israeli aggression’ as Hezbollah vowed to retaliate.

Crowds gathered outside American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) yesterday following the attack (Picture: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

A Hezbollah official told AP news agency anonymously that Israel had targeted the devices, while the former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden weighed in after the blast.

Snowden said: ‘Regarding the reports of beepers being remotely detonated in Beirut today, I genuinely hope it is a supply-chain attack. Because the alternative is simply unthinkable.’

Speaking to the AP after his son, Mohammad Mahdi Ammar, was killed on Tuesday, prominent Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar said: ‘This is a new Israeli aggression against Lebanon.’

‘The resistance will retaliate in a suitable way at the suitable time.’

Israel has remained tight-lipped about the explosion.

But it said yesterday that stopping Hezbollah attacks in the north so that residents can return to their homes is now an official goal.

Reaction to the pager explosion

The UK Foreign Office has called for ‘calm heads and de-escalation’ after the blast.

A spokesperson for the FCDO said: ‘We continue to monitor the situation in Lebanon closely and the UK is working with diplomatic and humanitarian partners in the region. The civilian casualties following these explosions are deeply distressing.

‘We urge calm heads and de-escalation at this critical time.’

Emily Thornberry, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in Parliament, said the attack is concerning.

She spoke at Sky New’s breakfast show: ‘We are really concerned about what is happening now in Lebanon. I think the big question is: why? Why is this happening now? And what will the result of that be?’

She said she would expect ‘Israel’s friends’ to speak ‘very seriously to them.’

The UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy urged British nationals to leave Lebanon several weeks ago, saying they could become ‘trapped in a warzone’ if they didn’t.

Lufthansa has suspended all flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran in response to the explosions.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.