BEIRUT: Thirty-seven people lost their lives, 650 got injured when Hezbollah’s Walkie Talkies (hand-held radios) were detonated late Wednesday (18th September, 2024) across the country’s south and in the southern suburbs of the capital.

Incidentally, as the members of Hezbollah were offering Namaz-e-Janaza of those who lost their lives in the Pagers’ explosions on 17th Sept, one or more Walkie Talkies were detonated in the premises. The Walkie Talkies were also procured by the militants five months ago when they had purchased those 5000 Pagers that exploded on Tuesday.

Israel managed to breach (Iran-backed) Hezbollah’s communication satellite system and due to its cyber attack 5000 lithium batteries fitted in the newly smuggled (AR 924) Pagers exploded at 3 PM (12 GMT) simultaneously across Lebanon and Syria, killing 14 (including a 9-year-old girl) and injuring 3000 (Irani Envoy Mojtaba Amani lost one eye) on Tuesday (17th Sept, 2024).

It may be recalled that, even in a third world (non-developed) country like Pakistan, Pager was an in thing back in the 90s. So why was Hezbollah, instead of making use of cutting-edge technology, utilising Pagers?

Since, in the past, Israel had successfully traced and neutralised many Hezbollah leaders by hacking cell phones and cameras connected to internet, the militants opted to use easy-to-carry automatic paging communication devices to receive short messages, convinced that Pagers were untraceable.

When the Pagers beeped, Hezbollah activists (and others harbouring the device on them) touched or lifted in order to read the message they detonated injuring and killing the owner. The explosions continued for an hour.

Lebanon claims that Mossad had injected a compound (2 ounces) of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN) into each lithium battery of the Pagers that were acquired from Gold Apollo, an entity based in Taiwan, months before they were detonated. However, Taiwan that has exported 260,000 Pagers in the last three years, does not harbour any records of sales to Lebanon.

Gold Apollo clarified that the units were made in Budapest by BAC Consulting KFT, a company having license to use its brand: “Our agreement permits BAC to use our trademark for specific regions, but the design and production are entirely their responsibility.”

Hezbollah said that Israel would be punished: “The resistance will continue today, like any other day, its operations to support Gaza, its people and its resistance which is a separate path from the harsh punishment that the criminal enemy (Israel) should await in response to Tuesday’s massacre”.

Newspakistan.tv