NEW YORK (AP) — In what appears to be a sophisticated, remotely controlled attack, pagers used by hundreds of Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including a young girl — and wounding thousands more.
The Iranian-backed militant group blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, which targeted an unusually wide range of people and showed signs of a long-planned operation. How the attack was carried out is largely uncertain, and investigators did not immediately say how the beepers were detonated. The Israeli military declined to comment.
This is what we know so far.
Why were pagers used in the attack?
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group's members not to carry mobile phones, as they could be used by Israel to track the group's movements for targeted attacks. As a result, the organization uses pagers to communicate.
A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that the detonated devices were a new brand that the group had not used before. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, did not name the brand or supplier.
How could sabotaging these beepers cause them to explode?
According to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official, the beepers first became hot and exploded in the pockets or hands of the porters on Tuesday afternoon.
These pagers run on lithium-ion batteries, the official added. And he claims the devices exploded as a result of an Israeli “security operation.”
He gave no evidence, but Israel has a long history of sophisticated operations behind enemy lines.
When overheated, lithium batteries can smoke, melt, and even catch fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cell phones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can reach temperatures of up to 590 C (1,100 F).
A handful of initial reports similarly suggested that the explosions were caused by overheated lithium batteries, likely after the pagers were remotely compromised. But experts also point to other possibilities.
The images seen Tuesday showed signs of detonation, said Alex Plitsas, a weapons expert at the Atlantic Council. “A lithium-ion battery fire is one thing, but I've never seen one explode like that. It looks like a small explosive charge,” Plitsas said.
This suggests that Israel was aware of a shipment of pagers going to Hezbollah and may have modified the pagers before delivery, the spokesman said.
Another possibility is an electronic pulse “sent from far away that burned the devices and caused their explosion,” said Yehoshua Kalisky, a scientist and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank.
“It was not a random act; it was deliberate and known,” Kalisky added.
