Why thousands of Hezbollah pagers exploded in Lebanon

Pagers carried by thousands of Hezbollah members in Lebanon exploded simultaneously on Tuesday afternoon in an unprecedented attack that killed nine people, including a child, and injured nearly 3,000.

The attack took place as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah are rising, and which US officials fear may turn into all out war. Israel has, however, not commented on the detonations.

Israel may have originally wanted to detonate the pagers belonging to members of the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria as an opening blow in the event of an all-out war against the Iran-backed group, Axios reported, citing Israeli and US officials.

But Tel Aviv may have decided to jump the gun on Tuesday amid concern that its ‘secret operation’ may have been compromised.

Israel chose to act early when a Hezbollah member became suspicious of the devices and planned to alert his superiors, Al-Monitor reported.

“It was a use it or lose it moment,” Axios cited an US official as saying.

Israeli leaders had been ramping up threats to launch a military offensive on Lebanon amid a diplomatic visit by Amos Hochstein, Washington’s top envoy tasked with averting a war between Israel and Hezbollah, Al Monitor had reported on Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defense minister Yoav Gallant and other senior officials were engaged in hours of consultations around the issue of the operation being potentially compromised, Axios said.

On Tuesday afternoon local time, several minutes before the pagers exploded, Gallant dialed US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin and told him Israel was about to conduct an operation in Lebanon soon, but refused to give any specific details.

US officials said they didn’t see Gallant’s call as a prior notice. “We were not aware of this operation and were not involved,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah, which said members of its military units and institutions were among the casualties, has threatened retaliation for the pager attack.

The group issued a statement on Wednesday, saying that it is going to continue fighting Israel along the border separately from its revenge for the pager attack.

Meanwhile, Gold Apollo Co., the Taiwanese firm whose brand name appears on the pagers that exploded, said a company based out of Hungary was responsible for manufacturing the models used in the attacks.

Gold Apollo said it has had a deal with BAC Consulting in Budapest for several years under which the latter could use its brand in designated regions.

“Regarding the recent media reports about the AR-924 pager, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC,” Gold Apollo said in a statement. “We only provide brand trademark authorization and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product.”

BAC Consulting did not immediately respond to an email.

The New York Times and Reuters reported that Israeli agents tampered with the pagers before they reached Lebanon, though it is not clear where the tampering took place.

The Mossad “injected a board inside of the device that had up to 3 grams of explosive material,” Reuters reported a senior Lebanese security official as saying.

A coded message sent to about 3,000 such pagers on Tuesday triggered the simultaneous explosions.

Mojtaba Amani, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, lost an eye and his other was seriously wounded in the attack, The New York Times reported.