'Pager Bombs' Target Hezbollah In Lebanon. What We Know So Far - 5 Points
- Hezbollah has been using a private, fixed-line telecommunications network dating back to the early 2000s, news agency Reuters reported on July 9. The use of pagers appears to be an extension of this method of keeping communications to the most basic to avoid being intercepted and tracked.
- "Each one who received a new pager, throw it away," said a voice message that was circulated to Hezbollah members, according to one of the members, who shared it with The Washington Post.
- It is not yet fully known how exactly the pagers were made to explode. Some experts on social media said they suspect Israeli intelligence operatives may have intercepted a large order of pagers by the Hezbollah, and either rigged them with small plastic explosives or replaced the pagers with similar looking models but which are actually mini bombs.
- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had previously warned the group's members not to carry cellphones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.
- Israel's electronic eavesdropping - including hacking into cell phones and computers - is also widely regarded as among the world's most sophisticated.
