The pager caused such damage to Lebanon's terrorist group Hezbollah that it will be remembered for centuries. The pager which Hezbollah fighters thought was the safest medium of communication turned fatal for them. Many people died in the explosion of pagers in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday, while more than 2500 people were injured. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack, but Israel has maintained silence till now.
In the decades-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the pager has become a weapon used to target the enemy. Iranian-backed groups like Hezbollah have long been Israel's target. Technology has been an important weapon in the war between the two. In 2020, Israel assassinated Iran's top nuclear scientist using a robot via satellite.
Israel has also used hacking to harm Iranian nuclear development. While Israel kept going high-tech, Hezbollah kept trying to find a way around it. Seeing Israel's power, Hezbollah forbade its fighters from using cell phones. It had given pagers to its fighters.
Israel saw an opportunity in Pager.According to US intelligence assessments, Hezbollah was under pressure to invest in the pager, which, for all its limited capabilities, could obtain data without giving away the user's location or other compromising information. Israeli intelligence saw an opportunity in the pager.
Israel had begun planning to create a shell company even before Hezbollah decided to expand its use of pagers. A contract was struck between Hungarian company BAC Consulting and Taiwanese company Gold Apollo to produce the pagers. According to the New York Times, three Israeli intelligence officials said this was actually part of an Israeli front. They said at least two other shell companies were created to hide the real identities of those making the pagers.
I had to carry a pager with me at all times.For the Hungarian company BAC, every order from Hezbollah mattered. The pagers of this company were better than others. According to intelligence officials, the pagers had batteries equipped with explosive PETN. The pagers began shipping to Lebanon in the summer of 2022. Hezbollah officials were ordered to carry pagers even in meetings. They were ordered to carry pagers at all times.
In case of war, the pagers were to be used to tell fighters where to go. According to US intelligence officials, shipments of pagers to Lebanon increased over the summer. Thousands arrived in the country and were distributed among Hezbollah officers and their allies.
For Hezbollah, this was a defensive measure, but in Israel, intelligence officers used pagers as buttons to be pressed when the time came.
