On Tuesday, a series of explosions rocked Lebanon, injuring thousands, after the detonation of pager systems used by Hezbollah militants. The Lebanese Islamist group claims the attack was carried out by hacking or tampering with their pagers, a rare communication tool in modern times.
Hezbollah has relied on pagers for secure communication, avoiding mobile phones, which are vulnerable to Israeli cyber espionage. Through these devices, the powerful group coordinates its forces, AFP report.
Pagers operate on their own radio frequency, independent of mobile networks, which are prone to disruption or interception. American pager manufacturer Spok touts their reliability: “Pager signals can penetrate steel, while smartphone signals can be blocked,” the company’s website boasts.
Though pagers peaked in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, they remain widely used in hospitals, particularly in the United States. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has previously urged members and their families to discard mobile phones, referring to them as “collaborators and killers,” stressing the importance of secrecy to protect against Israeli and American surveillance.
The apparent breach of these pagers, leading to devastating explosions, dealt a significant blow to Hezbollah, which has long used these devices as a critical element of its military operations.
