Perfidious plan This is how Hezbollah's pagers were detonated
First, hundreds of Hezbollah pagers explode simultaneously, followed by numerous radios the next day. There was a technically sophisticated plan behind the perfidious attack.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Over 3,000 injured, almost 40 dead: the explosions of numerous communication devices are causing horror in Lebanon.
- This is one of the most remarkable strikes against the Hezbollah militia.
- The two waves of explosions, carried out about a day apart, were carefully planned.
Who did it and how did the attacks work? After hundreds of pagers exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday and numerous radio devices belonging to the Shiite militia Hezbollah exploded in two waves almost simultaneously the following day, it is generally assumed that Israel was behind the operations. But who manipulated the devices, how and where were the explosive devices installed and how were they detonated?
Both Hezbollah and its most important ally Iran, as well as the Lebanese government, hold Israel responsible for the coordinated attacks. The Israeli government has not yet made any official statements. However, such a technically sophisticated attack bears the signature of Israel's secret services, which have repeatedly carried out similarly complex attacks to kill high-ranking enemies.
Background still unclear
The attacks on Hezbollah's communications infrastructure, which left more than 3,000 people injured and 40 dead, were planned in a particularly perfidious manner. After the pagers were switched off in the first wave, the Shiite militia was forced to resort to radio equipment - which then exploded.
We will either never know anything about the background and procedures of the operation or will not know for many years at the earliest. What is certain, however, is that it required careful planning. Some details of the orchestrated attacks have already become known.
Pagers - old-fashioned but with certain advantages
- How pagers work: The small devices are something of a precursor to the cell phone. The basic idea: if you want to talk to someone, you ping the person's pager. The person sees the phone number - or a short message - and can call back or act on the message. Pagers now use outdated radio standards and are only recipients if they are not logged into a network.
- Why Hezbollah uses pagers: There is a simple reason why a militia like Hezbollah uses pagers on a large scale. Unlike cell phones or smartphones, their location cannot be determined. Meanwhile, activating all pagers in an area at the same time is not a problem.
- These manufacturers are involved: The exploded pagers bore the logo of the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. The company has denied manufacturing the affected AR-924 model devices. The company BAC Consulting KFT, based in Budapest, with which an agreement on the use of trademark rights exists, is responsible for this. The Hungarian company also denied production.
Delayed explosions for major injuries
Contrary to initial assumptions that the batteries of the affected pagers were detonated in a coordinated manner, this has already proven to be untenable. Experts conclude from the force of the explosions and the nature of the injuries that high-explosive explosives must have been placed in the sabotaged devices.
"It doesn't have to be a lot of explosive, because even a few grams near the human body would cause injuries," Alan Woodward, Professor of Cybersecurity at Surrey University, told the Guardian.
The pagers were probably programmed so that they only exploded a few seconds after the trigger message was received. Until then, they beeped so that the owners took them out of their pockets. This explains the particularly devastating eye injuries suffered by many people.
Interfering with the supply chain
Shortly after the first wave of explosions, the New York Times reported, citing several sources familiar with the operation, that the pagers had been physically tampered with. A small amount of high-explosive explosive, between 25 and 50 grams, was implanted next to the battery in each pager. In addition, a detonator that could be triggered with a special message.
The attackers must therefore have had access to the supply chain of the devices and had insider knowledge. This means that the operation, coupled with good reconnaissance work, was carefully planned with the utmost secrecy. According to security circles, many of the pagers came from a delivery that had only recently arrived in Lebanon. According to the Reuters news agency, the exploded radios were purchased around the same time as the pagers.
Security expert Nico Lange suspects on Westdeutscher Rundfunk: "You have to understand very well how Hezbollah's command structures work and first have to figure out that they are using these pagers. And then, of course, you have to know where they ordered them, when will they arrive? And then they have to prepare the devices unnoticed. You can't just do that remotely, you have to have physical access."
Hezbollah is running out of means of communication
However, it was well known that Hezbollah used pagers. The Shia militia has been using them for years because they are more difficult to locate. And it was only at the beginning of the year that Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah issued a de facto ban on cell phones. Hezbollah fighters fear that smartphones can be tracked by the Israeli military or intelligence services, making them an easy target.
Attacks using manipulated pagers and radios have hit Hezbollah hard. "They can't use cell phones. They can't use pagers. They can't use radios," Nigel Inkster, former director of operations and intelligence for Britain's MI6 intelligence agency, told the Washington Post. "In the short term, it will be very, very difficult for them to exercise effective command and control."
