Lebanon Blasts: What Is A Pager And Why Hezbollah Uses The Devices

A pager is a small, battery-operated radio receiver that set off an alert when it receives a proper signal and displays a numeric message, like a phone number, or a short text message.

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded across Lebanon and in parts of Syria on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring thousands, including members of the Hezbollah militant group. 

The series of blasts, which happened nearly simultaneously across Lebanon, has been linked to pagers, a communication device that was popular in the late 1980s and 1990s, before the cellular phones came into the picture. 

Lebanon’s foreign ministry blamed Israel for the sophisticated and remote attack and called it "Israeli cyber attack". The Hezbollah has said it is carrying out “a security and scientific” investigation into the explosions. The attacks have wounded the Iranian ambassador, government and Hezbollah officials. 

The mysterious blasts came amid rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which have frequently exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the start of Israel-Gaza War in October last year.

What Is A Pager?

A pager is a small, battery-operated radio receiver that sets off an alert when it receives a proper signal, and displays a numeric message, like a phone number, or a short text message.

There are two types of pagers: one-way pagers, which can only receive messages, and two-way pagers that can both aend and receive messages. 

Pagers were popular between the late 1980s and the late 1990s. The pagers were succeeded by smaller and more affordable cell phones with a longer battery life.

Though outdated, pagers have still found their niche as a dependable, cost-effective way to deliver urgent messaging to people who need to be reached out. Some industries like healthcare, IT, Alarm Applications and property maintenance still use the device for quick alerts instead of simple text messaging or phone calls. 

A report in Associated Press quoting experts said the pager explosions seemed to be a long-planned operation. However, investigators are not immediately aware of how the pagers were detonated or how the explosives were sneaked into the pager.

Why Does Hezbollah Use Pagers?

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah has been using low-tech strategies ever since the killing of senior commanders in Israeli airstrikes in July. 

The militant group has been using several low-tech strategies like landline phones, coded messages and pagers to evade Israel's advanced surveillance technology, a report in Reuters said. 

Israeli strikes have killed more than 330 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and electronic surveillance technology plays a vital role in these strikes. 

In order to escape Israel's eavesdropping measures like hacking into cell phones and computers, Hezbollah has been using primitive communication channels like fixed-line telecommunications network, pagers and couriers to deliver messages. 

Pagers offer reliability and critical backup for communication. Moreover, the device, devoid of modern features like GPS or Bluetooth, allows its users to remain off the grid without the possibility of location tracking. 

How The Pagers Detonated?

The Associated Press report raises two possibilities how the pagers exploded. The report, quoting Alex Plitsas, a weapons expert, said "Israel was aware of a shipment of pagers heading to Hezbollah and managed to modify the pagers before delivery."

The second possible reason behind the explosion is an electronic pulse which was was sent from afar and burnt the devices leading to the explosion, according to Yehoshua Kalisky, a scientist and a senior researcher.