HEZBOLLAH SUFFERS MAJOR SECURITY BREACH AS PAGERS EXPLODE

Tue 17 September 2024:

Dozens of Hezbollah fighters were seriously wounded on Tuesday in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs when their communication pagers exploded. According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), “Tens of injuries have been taken to hospital after pagers exploded through the use of high technology.”

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said it was a “major development” in the war between Israel and the Iran-backed group and said it appears that the devices were penetrated and hacked in a coordinated attack.

“This is a major security breach – Hezbollah’s communications device has been compromised. We have seen pictures from across Lebanon of men lying on the floor wounded, bleeding. We have seen reports of hospitals asking for blood,” she said.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of war with Israel.

Khodr said that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah called on his fighters a few months ago to stop using smartphones because Israel has the technology to infiltrate and penetrate those devices.

“So now they’ve resorted to this different communications system using pagers and it seems they have been penetrated,” she said.

“We are getting reports that there were near simultaneous explosions in southern Lebanon, in east of the country and in Beirut’s southern suburbs.”

Khodr reported that there was widespread panic in Beirut and ambulances were rushing through the southern suburbs of the capital. Reuters reported residents as saying that explosions were taking place even 30 minutes after the initial blasts.

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Biggest Security Breach in a Year

A Hezbollah official, speaking anonymously, confirmed this was the “biggest security breach” in nearly a year of war with Israel. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had previously instructed fighters to stop using smartphones due to fears of Israeli infiltration. Instead, they switched to pagers, which have now also been compromised.

Reports indicated that explosions occurred simultaneously across southern Lebanon, eastern regions, and Beirut’s southern suburbs. Reuters reported ongoing explosions even 30 minutes after the initial blasts, causing widespread panic in Beirut. Ambulances were seen rushing through the city’s southern suburbs as the situation escalated.

Third-Party Involvement Suspected

Pagers Tampered with Before Distribution

Military analyst Elijah Magnier told Al Jazeera that Hezbollah relies on pagers to avoid Israeli interception. He speculated that the devices were tampered with before being distributed to Hezbollah members. “This is not a new system,” Magnier said, but suggested a third party enabled the remote activation of explosions.

On the same day, Israel expanded its war objectives to focus on Hezbollah along the northern border with Lebanon, following ongoing clashes between Israeli troops and the Iran-backed group. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office emphasized that the safe return of northern residents is now part of Israel’s war goals.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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