The operation, which left thousands injured across Lebanon, was the result of a joint operation between Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, and the Israeli military.
Israel placed explosive material in a batch of Taiwanese-made pagers which were imported into Lebanon and destined for Hezbollah, the New York Times reported, citing American and other officials briefed on the operation.
Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously in parts of Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including members of the militant group Hezbollah and a young girl — and wounding several thousand, officials said. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for the attack. Israel has not commented.
How could sabotage cause these pagers to explode?
With little disclosed from investigators so far, multiple theories have emerged Tuesday around how the attack might have been carried out. Several experts who spoke with The Associated Press suggest that the explosions were likely the result of supply-chain interference.
Very small explosive devices may have been built into the pagers prior to their delivery to Hezbollah, and then all remotely triggered simultaneously, possibly with a radio signal, said Carlos Perez, director of security intelligence at TrustedSec. By the time of the attack, “more than likely the battery was probably half-explosive and half-actual battery.”
After security camera footage appeared on social media Tuesday purporting to show one of the pagers explode on a man’s hip in a Lebanese market, two munitions experts also said that the blast appeared to be the result of a tiny explosive device.
“Looking at the video, the size of the detonation is similar to that caused by an electric detonator alone or one that incorporates an extremely small, high-explosive charge,” said Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert. He estimated the amount of explosive required could be as little as 1.5 grams to 2 grams — roughly the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil.
Moorhouse explains that the tiny explosives and the method for detonating them would have had to have been built into the pagers prior to delivery, signaling the likely involvement of a state actor. He adds that Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, is the most obvious suspect to have the resources to carry out such an attack.
N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an expert in military arms who is director of the Australian-based Armament Research Services, agreed that the scale and sophistication of the attack “almost certainly points to a state actor,” and that Israel had been accused of carrying out such operations in the past. Last year, AP reported that Iran accused Israel of trying to sabotage its ballistic missile program through faulty foreign parts that could explode, damaging or destroying the weapons before they could be used.
What else could have happened?
Another possibility is that malware could have been inserted into the operating system of the pagers — and that somehow caused the device batteries to all overload at a specific time, causing them to burst into flame.
According to a Hezbollah official and Lebanese security officials, the pagers first heated up and then exploded in the pockets, or the hands, of those carrying them Tuesday afternoon.
These pagers run on lithium ion batteries, the Hezboolah official said, claiming the devices exploded as the result of being targeted from an Israeli “security operation,” without elaborating further.
When overheated, lithium ion batteries can smoke, melt and even catch on fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can burn up to 590 C (1,100 F).
Still, Moorhouse and others noted that images and video footage seen Tuesday more strongly resembled the detonation of small explosive charge, not an overheating battery.
“A lithium ion battery fire is one thing, but I’ve never seen one explode like that. It looks like a small explosive charge,” Alex Plitsas, a weapons expert at the Atlantic Council.
Another possibility is an electronic pulse “that was sent from afar and 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 is not some random action; it was deliberate and known,” Kalisky added.
The militant group Hezbollah was formed in 1982 as a Shiite Muslim political and military force, with the support of Iran and Syria, after an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It functions within the Lebanese government as a political party, but also outside of it, providing services to its Shiite followers and maintaining its own paramilitary force.
Statistics Lebanon further estimates 30.7 percent of the population is Christian. Maronite Catholics are the largest Christian group (with 52.5 percent of the Christian population), followed by Greek Orthodox (25 percent of the Christian population).Lebanon did take part in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War against Israel, but Lebanon was the first Arab League nation to signal a desire for an armistice treaty with Israel in 1949.
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