At least nine people were killed and around 3,000 injured after pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday.
How does a pager work?
A pager is pre-mobile phone era telecommunication device which transmits radio signals from its network through a specific frequency. The AR 924 pager used by the Hezbollah did not allow phone calls and were used to communicate via text messages.
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Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah believes that the explosives were planted by Israeli spy agency Mossad in the pagers during the production stage itself. Lebanon security officials claimed the pagers were manufactured by Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm.
However, Gold Apollo stated that it did not manufacture the AR 924 pagers, which it claimed were actually produced by BAC, a company which has a licence to use Gold Apollo's brand.
Why did Hezbollah use pagers instead of smartphones?
Resurfaced. A video of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah calling on his network of terrorists to abandon cell phones because " it is a deadly agent."
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) September 18, 2024
He pushed Hezbollah to adopt low tech communications, like pagers đź“ź pic.twitter.com/wPrj5kA9MF
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on February 13 warned the group's supporters that their phones were more dangerous than Israeli spies. He advised them to break, bury or lock them in an iron box.
Following this, the paramilitary group ordered around 5,000 Taiwanese AR 924 pagers. The choice to switch to pagers was simple: They allowed Hezbollah evade location tracking by Israel as they did not have cameras or allow telephone calls. They also have a low digital signature.
