Israel on alert for Hezbollah retaliation over pager attacks

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) was on Tuesday braced for a response after Hezbollah accused Israel of being behind a wave of exploding pagers that killed at least nine and injured thousands.
Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, the IDF’s chief of staff, insisted Israel remains ready “for attack and defence in all arenas” without mentioning the pager attacks which occurred across Lebanon and in parts of Syria.
“We will update immediately on any change to [Home Front Command guidelines],” the IDF added.
Lebanon and Hezbollah have both accused Tel Aviv of being behind the attack, with the Lebanese prime minister labelling it as “criminal Israeli aggression” and a “serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty”.
Hezbollah, whose fighters were injured and killed in the attack, also said it holds the “Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression”. 
“This treacherous and criminal enemy will certainly receive its just punishment for this sinful aggression,” they said in a statement.
The US said it was investigating the attacks and denied claims made in Iranian media that it had advanced knowledge of the explosions. “The US was not aware of this incident in advance and, at this point, we’re gathering information,” the state department said.
A US official told The New York Times that the pagers used for the attack appeared to have been made in Taiwan and fitted with explosives that could be triggered remotely.
The White House has urged restraint from Hezbollah and Iran, whose ambassador to Beirut was hurt in the attack.
The Foreign Office has called for “calm heads and de-escalation” after hundreds of pagers exploded simultaneously across Lebanon in what appeared to be a coordinated attack.
An FCDO spokesperson said: “We continue to monitor the situation in Lebanon closely and the UK is working with diplomatic and humanitarian partners in the region. The civilian casualties following these explosions are deeply distressing.
“We urge calm heads and de-escalation at this critical time.”
We’re pausing our live coverage of the pager attack in Lebanon. Here is the latest news from today:
Read more: 
The Foreign Office has called for “calm heads and de-escalation” after Tuesday’s attack.
An FCDO spokesperson said: “We continue to monitor the situation in Lebanon closely and the UK is working with diplomatic and humanitarian partners in the region. The civilian casualties following these explosions are deeply distressing.
“We urge calm heads and de-escalation at this critical time.”
Explosive material was hidden in pagers and shipped to Hezbollah fighters from Taiwan before being detonated remotely, according to a report.
US officials told The New York Times that one to two ounces of explosive material were hidden in each pager next to the battery along with a switch that could remotely trigger the device. 
Tuesday’s audacious attack in Lebanon was co-ordinated for 3.30pm local time (1.30pm UK) and according to reports the pagers beeped for several seconds before exploding. 
The pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from the leadership of Hezbollah, the newspaper reported.
About 3,000 AP924 pagers had been ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan and many of them were tampered with before Hezbollah received them.
Hezbollah has confirmed the deaths of seven of its fighters in today’s explosions. 
The group has also released images of the dead fighters, who have been identified as Yousef Mazi Alvah, Hasan Mohammad Yasin, Mohammad Zakaria Abbas, Hasan Ahmad Mantash, Abbas Belal Menam, Hasan Ahmad Mohammad, and Najib Abdulhossein Alaedeen.
Air France and Lufthansa announced late on Tuesday that they will be suspending flights connecting European cities with Beirut and Tel Aviv until at least Thursday due to security concerns.
Hamas has condemned Israel’s pager attack in a statement.
“We appreciate the struggle and sacrifices of our brothers in Hezbollah and their insistence on continuing to support and back our Palestinian people in Gaza, and we affirm our full solidarity with the Lebanese people and our brothers in Hezbollah.”
Hezbollah’s pagers were meant to be safety measures, secure from Israeli eavesdropping.
Instead, they were a deadly Trojan horse.
After suffering a series of assassinations of top operatives during months of low-level war with Israel, this summer Hezbollah ordered its fighters to ditch their mobile phones. They were too easy to track and too readily compromised by Israel’s fearsome military hackers.
On Tuesday afternoon, that was revealed as a terrible blunder.
Read more: Hezbollah’s terrible blunder that ended with audacious pager attack
 
Was Israel behind the exploding devices, who are Hezbollah – and why would Israel want to strike them?
Here’s everything we know about the pager attack.
Read more: Why would Israel plant mini-bombs in pagers?
The Kataeb Hezbollah militia, one of the most powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi armed groups, has vowed to send fighters to Lebanon after today’s pager attacks.
“We are fully prepared to go with them to the end, and to send fighters, equipment and support, whether on the technical or logistical level,” a spokesperson for the group said.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has also promised to send medical and emergency service teams to help with Lebanon’s response.
Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, intercepted pagers meant for Hezbollah five months before today’s attack and loaded them with high explosive material, sources have claimed to Sky News Arabia.
The Israeli spy agency allegedly placed PETN, one of the most powerful explosives known, on the devices’ batteries. 
The pagers were the reportedly detonated after the batteries’ temperature was raised from afar.
Hezbollah has named its two fighters who were killed in today’s attacks as Hassan Muhammad and Youssef Alwa.
At least 443 of its members have been killed since it started attacking Israel on Oct 8.
The escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah requires a “diplomatic resolution”, the White House said.
“We continue to believe that there … should be a diplomatic resolution to this,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House spokesperson, said.
Hezbollah has vowed to respond after blaming Israel for the exploding pager attacks across Lebanon and Syria.
Coordinated blasts seem likely to have been ordered by Benjamin Netanyahu to satisfy domestic needs, writes Paul Nuki, our Global Health Security Editor.
On Monday, Israeli officials announced they had uncovered a Hezbollah plot to assassinate a former security official with a remotely operated bomb.
On Tuesday, hundreds of Hezbollah operatives were maimed and injured as their pagers simultaneously exploded.
The exact details of what happened in Beirut and its surrounds will be pored over for years to come but – innovation aside – it is really just another chapter in the oldest book.
It is power politics through terror; communication through slaughter; a modern and grossly lopsided version of the Biblical idiom “an eye for an eye”.
Read the full story here.
A media outlet affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has suggested the United States had advanced knowledge of the pager explosions in Lebanon.
“It is possible that this cyber attack exceeded the capabilities of the Zionist regime (Israel), and we should look for the footprint of the terrorist American regime in this attack,” Tasnim news agency reported, citing an unnamed source.
“The collection of pagers from the American hospital in Beirut could be strong evidence supporting this.”
Iran state TV has earlier reported that pager devices were collected from a US-linked medical centre in Beirut 10 days ago amid claims they were faulty. 
But US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: “The US was not involved in it. The US was not aware of this incident in advance and, at this point, we’re gathering information.”
A Hezbollah official has told AP that the pagers which exploded across Lebanon and Syria were brand new and so had not been used by its fighters before.
See our 5.51pm post for more context on why Hezbollah continues to use pagers in 2024.
Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the IDF’s chief of staff, insisted Israel remains ready “for attack and defence in all arenas” without mentioning today’s pager attacks.
There have been no changes to guidelines for civilians, but the public have been urged to remain vigilant.
“We will update immediately on any change to [Home Front Command guidelines],” the military added.
The majority if the pagers exploded in Lebanon, but more than a dozen people were also injured in Syria.
At least 14 people were wounded in Syria on Tuesday when pagers used by Hezbollah fighters exploded, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British war monitor.
“Fourteen people whose nationalities are unknown have been wounded in Damascus and its countryside after pagers used by Hezbollah exploded,” it said.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that some of its members had been wounded in pager blasts in neighbouring Syria, without specifying how many.
Pager devices were collected from an American medical centre in Beirut ten days ago, Iranian media claimed.
“The management of Beirut American Hospital collected pager devices from its employees 10 days ago, claiming that they needed to be repaired,” the Islamic Republic’s state TV said.
The use of pagers in 2024 may seem outdated. 
But Hezbollah regressed back to these devices thinking it would be safer for its fighters to use instead of phones, which have GPS, according to Avi Melamed, a former Israeli Intelligence official.
He said: 
In one sweeping attack, with both significant operational and psychological ramifications, these very low-tech devices were used against them and very possibly deepening the stress and embarrassment on its leaders. 
Developments in Lebanon are extremely concerning, especially given the “extremely volatile” situation in the Middle East, the UN’s spokesperson has said.
Stephane Dujarric added that the UN deplores any civilian casualties.
Pager explosions have also targeted Hezbollah members in Syria, Iranian media reported.
Several members have been killed and wounded across Syria with seven injuries reported in the Zeinabieh neighbourhood of Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that several Hezbollah members arrived at hospitals in Damascus and Rif Dimashq provinces after sustaining injuries from the explosion of communication devices they were carrying.
In Damascus, one pager exploded in a car travelling on a road near the Kafr Susah neighbourhood.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have also condemned the pager explosions.
“The Israeli regime’s attack is a clear violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty,” said Mohammad Abd al-Salam, a spokesperson for the group.
He added, “We condemn the Israeli regime’s security attack on Lebanon, which targeted many Lebanese.”
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s chief, was not injured in the wave of pager attacks across Lebanon, according to source within the terror group.
Among the dead was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member.
The girl was killed when her father’s pager exploded as she was standing beside him, her family and a source close to Hezbollah said.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, the defence minsiter, have been taking part in discussions over how Israel should respond to a potential escalation by Hezbollah after the pager attack. 
Hewbrew media reported that top defence officials have been summoned for an emergency discussion with government officials at the defence ministry’s HQ at the Kirya base, Tel Aviv.
Firas al-Abyad, Lebanon’s health minister, said that eight people were killed and nearly 2,800 were injured in today’s exploding pager attack. 
At least 200 people are thought to be in critical conditions.
Hezbollah has issued a statement saying it is conducting a “wide-ranging security and scientific investigation to determine the causes that led to these simultaneous explosions.”
“We affirm that the resistance, at all its levels and various units, is at the highest level of readiness to defend Lebanon and its steadfast people,” a spokesperson for Hezbollah added.
At least three people were killed and almost 3,000 were injured in the attack.
The group reported that the blasts “resulted in the martyrdom of a girl and two brothers while injuring a large number of people with varying degrees of severity”.
The affected pagers were from a new shipment that Hezbollah received in the last few days, the Wall Street Journal reported.
A Hezbollah official said hundreds of fighters had the devices and speculated that malware may have caused the devices to explode.
Some people with the pagers felt them heat up and got rid of them before they exploded.
Mojtaba Amani, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, and two of his bodyguards were injured when a pager exploded in Lebanon.
“Mojtaba Amani, the honourable ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, sustained a minor injury,” the Islamic Republic’s embassy in Beirut said.
“Fortunately, the ambassador’s overall condition is good,” the embassy added.
Mr Amani’s wife said: “My husband, Dr Mojtaba Amani, sustained minor injuries in a pager explosion in Lebanon.”
“Thank God, he is doing well now, and we are grateful that nothing happened to him.”
Professor Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at the University of Surrey, told the Telegraph:
A tiny amount of explosive can injure badly especially when right next to the body. If this proves to be real I don’t think it’s a cyber attack, but rather an old fashioned explosive booby trap.
The first obvious question is what pagers are they using as there’s not many places left with pagers in use.
I’m guessing to make it explode, you’d have to get the battery to misbehave in some way.
I’ve heard of lithium ion batteries spontaneously igniting but to make it happen on demand is a different matter entirely.
This is the moment a pager exploded in a man’s bag as he shopped for fruit in a Beirut supermarket.
A small explosion can be seen taking place inside the bag, which dropped him to the floor as bystanders looked on, confused.
More than 1,000 people are believed to have been injured, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, after the pagers exploded across Beirut.
Video footage showed one man’s device appearing to explode while he shopped in a supermarket while bleeding men were seen lying on the streets in the city of Baalbek.
Explosions also occurred in the Dahiya neighbourhood in Beirut, a Hezbollah’s stronghold where a top Hezbollah commander was assassinated by Israel in July.
Other footage showed ambulances rushing to the scene of an explosion in Beirut and hospitals treating dozens of bleeding men.
Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage.
We’re bringing you the latest after hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were injured by exploding pagers in Beirut, Lebanon.