How Israel turned pagers into weapons of war, Hezbollah, Israel, pager explosions, Lebanon, explained, Tech News, World News, Israel pager bombs

A U.S. official told the Associated Press that Israel informed the U.S. of the operation on Tuesday after it ended. During the operation, explosive devices hidden in the pagers were detonated. The official spoke anonymously because the information could not be made public.

The Iran-backed militant group accused Israel of being behind the deadly explosions, which killed scores of people and appeared to be part of a well-planned operation.

The exact nature of the attack is still unclear. Investigators have not yet explained how the pagers were triggered. The Israeli military has not commented on the incident.

Why were pagers chosen for the attack?

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had previously advised the group's members not to carry cell phones because Israel could use them to track their movements. For this reason, the group relies on pagers for communication.

A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press that the pagers that exploded 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 media, did not identify the brand or manufacturer.

On Wednesday, Taiwan-based Gold Apollo said it had approved the use of its trademark on the AR-924 pager model, which is manufactured and sold by Budapest-based BAC Consulting. Further details about BAC were not immediately available, AP reported.

Nicholas Reese, an associate professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, told AP that smartphones pose a higher risk of communications being intercepted than the simpler technology used in pagers.

Such an attack would force Hezbollah to change its methods of communication, said Reese, a former intelligence official, adding that survivors of Tuesday's explosions would likely get rid of not only their pagers but also their phones, tablets and other electronic devices.

How could sabotage cause these pagers to explode?

Although a U.S. official confirmed that Israel had planned the operation, several theories emerged Tuesday about how the attack might have been carried out.

Several experts told the Associated Press that the explosions were most likely caused by disruptions in the supply chain.

Tiny explosive devices may have been placed in the pagers before they were delivered to Hezbollah, and were probably detonated simultaneously by remote control, possibly via a radio signal.

Carlos Perez, head of security at TrustedSec, explained that the pager's battery was likely partially explosive and partially functional at the time of the attack. This means that the battery itself was modified to contain explosive material, but still remained sufficiently functional to power the pager.

A former British Army bomb disposal expert explained that an explosive device typically consists of five main parts: a container, a battery, a trigger, a detonator and an explosive charge.

The former officer, who wished to remain anonymous because of his current work as a consultant in the Middle East, said: “A pager already has three of these components. All you would have to do is add the detonator and the explosive charge.”

In a pager, the trigger could potentially be the internal communications system, such as the radio receiver, which could be modified to remotely activate an explosive device. When a specific signal is sent, it could act as a trigger and detonate the pager.

After surveillance camera footage emerged on social media on Tuesday purporting to show a pager attached to a man's hip exploding in a Lebanese market, two weapons experts backed the U.S. official's claim that the explosion appeared to have been caused by a small explosive device.

Sean Moorhouse, a former British army officer and explosives expert, said the size of the explosion in the video was comparable to that of an electrical detonator or a small explosive charge.

NR Jenzen-Jones, a military weapons expert and director of Australia-based Armament Research Services, pointed out that Israel has been accused of conducting similar operations in the past.

Last year, the Associated Press reported that Iran accused Israel of trying to sabotage the country's ballistic missile program by using defective foreign parts that could explode and damage or destroy the missiles before they could be fired.

How long did this operation last?

Planning an attack of this magnitude would take a long time. While the exact details are still unclear, experts who spoke to AP believe preparation could have taken anywhere from a few months to up to two years.

Reese mentioned that the complexity of the attack suggests that the perpetrator likely collected information over a significant period of time.

To carry out an attack of this level, the necessary connections must be made to gain physical access to the pagers before they are sold, the technology that will be built into the devices must be developed, and sources must be found that confirm that the targets have used the pagers.

The compromised pagers likely appeared normal to their users for a time before the attack. Elijah J. Magnier, a veteran political risk analyst with more than 37 years of experience in the region, said he has spoken to Hezbollah members and survivors of Tuesday's pager attack. He said the pagers were obtained more than six months ago.

Magnier explained that the pagers had been working normally for six months, adding that the explosion appeared to have been triggered by an error message sent to all devices.

From his conversations with Hezbollah members, many of the pagers failed to explode, giving the group the opportunity to examine them. They concluded that about three to five grams of highly explosive material were hidden or embedded in the pagers' circuitry.

Jenzen-Jones also noted that an operation of this magnitude raises questions about targeting, particularly given the high number of casualties and significant impacts reported so far.

He asked how those setting off the bomb could be sure that, for example, the target's child would not be using the pager when it went off.

Hezbollah confirmed in a statement that at least two of its members were killed in the bombings. One of the victims was the son of a Hezbollah member of parliament, according to an anonymous Hezbollah official.

The group later announced that six more members had been killed on Tuesday, but did not provide further details.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack, saying: “We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which was also directed against civilians,” adding that Israel would “definitely bear the consequences.”