An ambulance arrives at a hospital as more than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon, September 17, 2024. Picture: Reuters, Mohamed Azakir
By Suzan Haidamous, Mohamad El Chamaa and Kareem Fahim
BEIRUT — Thousands of people were injured across Lebanon on Tuesday when electronic pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah simultaneously exploded at around 3.30pm local time, the group and Lebanese officials said, in what experts said may have been an unprecedented attack by Israel that possibly involved sabotaging the devices before they were delivered.
“Each one who received a new pager, throw it away,” said a voice message that was circulated to Hezbollah members, according to one of the members, who shared it with The Washington Post.
At least 2,800 people were injured across the country, mostly with wounds to the face, hands or stomach, Health Minister Firas Abiad said. At least nine people were reported killed.
Health officials reported chaotic scenes at hospitals, as ambulances poured in and facilities were overrun. Casualties were reported in Beirut, the capital; towns in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel; in the coastal city of Tyre and in the northern part of the country.
The Ministry of Public Health said hospitals were being placed on “maximum alert” and requested that “all citizens who own wireless communication devices stay away from them.” Health workers were directed to go to work to provide “emergency treatment,” the ministry said in another statement, and appeals were being made for blood donations.
The UN security management system advised personnel in Lebanon to switch off their VHF devices and remove all batteries until further notice, temporarily severing the agency’s radio network.
Hezbollah, in back-to-back statements, said unspecified number of pagers owned by “employees in various Hezbollah units and institutions” exploded at about 3.30pm. The cause was unknown, the group said, adding that a girl and her two brothers were among those killed.
The group was conducting a “wide-ranging” investigation to determine the reason for the explosions, the statement said, warning against the spread of “false and misleading information” that could serve Israel.
In a subsequent statement, Hezbollah said that “after examining all the facts, available data and information about the heinous attack that took place this afternoon, we hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians and led to the martyrdom of a number of people.”
Videos posted on social media showed what appeared to be pagers heavily damaged by explosions and instances in which the devices appeared to explode in shops while being carried by their owners. Videos of hospitals showed people with severe injuries, with missing fingers or deep gashes to their body, including badly injured children.
Outside the American University of Beirut Medical Center, in the capital’s Hamra district, a doctor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said at least 120 injured people were brought to the hospital. Bloodied bandages could be seen outside as at least 20 ambulances arrived early Tuesday evening.
An elderly woman, apparently unconscious, with cuts and burns, was wheeled to an ambulance so she could be transferred to another hospital.
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have soared following months of tit-for-tat strikes across the Lebanese-Israeli border. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in both countries.
Israeli officials this week said the military was ready to take action against Hezbollah, signalling that diplomatic efforts to prevent an all-out war have run their course.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on Tuesday on whether it was responsible for the pager explosions.
Emily Harding, deputy director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that while much remains unknown, it is likely that Israel infiltrated the supply chain that Hezbollah uses for its pagers, finding a way to physically rig them.
Although a cyberattack is possible, she said, it is unlikely given the “extremely low tech” nature of the pagers, which Hezbollah members use in part to avoid digital surveillance.
Since pagers cannot capture sound and don’t have cameras, they present less of a risk than cellphones when it comes to surveillance of movements and meetings, she said.
Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a national security think tank, said: “This looks to be perhaps the most extensive physical supply-chain attack in history — substituting imported devices with those containing explosives and triggering them all at the same time through some sort of command and control channel.”
- THE WASHINGTON POST