Explosive Tech: How Civilian Devices Became Hezbollah’s Deadly Weapons

Hezbollah communications equipment explosion: How concerned should we be about the weaponization of the civilian technology supply chain?

WASHINGTON — Recent explosions involving pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah have resulted in over 30 fatalities and nearly 3,000 injuries, prompting concerns about the weaponization of civilian technology (Explosive Tech). The incidents, which began on September 17, were linked to devices rigged with explosives during manufacturing, with a notable explosion occurring in a Beirut shopping mall.

Following these attacks, Hezbollah leaders accused Israel of orchestrating the bombings and vowed to retaliate, highlighting the vulnerability of their low-tech communication methods. Israeli intelligence reportedly exploited Hezbollah’s shift to pagers, modifying devices to include explosives, which has caused widespread fear among Lebanese residents and led to heightened security measures.

The ongoing conflict has escalated further following a terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, resulting in increased hostilities and retaliatory actions between Israel and Hezbollah.

Key Concepts

• Hezbollah has experienced a series of deadly explosions from pagers and walkie-talkies rigged with explosives, resulting in over 30 fatalities and nearly 3,000 injuries.
• The attacks highlight the weaponization of civilian technology, raising concerns about the security of communication devices.
• Following the explosions, Hezbollah leaders accused Israel of orchestrating the attacks and vowed retaliation.
• Hezbollah’s shift to low-tech communication methods like pagers aims to enhance operational security against Israeli surveillance.
• Israeli intelligence exploited Hezbollah’s reliance on pagers by creating front companies that manufactured modified devices containing explosives.
• The explosions were reportedly triggered by messages sent to the pagers or vulnerabilities in their software, leading to detonation.
• The attacks have disrupted Hezbollah’s communication networks and instilled fear among Lebanese residents regarding the safety of their electronic devices.
• The Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority has banned the transport of communication devices like pagers and walkie-talkies on airlines due to security concerns.
• The psychological impact of the attacks has led to panic among residents, prompting drastic safety measures in households.
• Experts indicate that while the desire to replicate such attacks exists, the complexity and planning required make it difficult for ordinary organizations to do so.
• Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has stated that the conflict has entered a “new era,” reflecting a shift in military strategy against Hezbollah.
• The ongoing conflict has escalated following a terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, leading to increased hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s Minister of Public Health said on Thursday (September 19) that the explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies targeting members of the radical armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon in the past two days has killed more than 30 people and injured nearly 3,000 people. It is reported that Hezbollah members used these low-tech communication devices to prevent being tracked by their enemies, but explosives were put into the devices during the manufacturing process.

Experts said that the explosion of Hezbollah’s communication equipment highlights the “weaponization” of the supply chain of civilian technology products. Although such practices may be imitated, ordinary consumers do not need to panic because they are very difficult to operate.

Hezbollah’s communication equipment exploded one after another, causing heavy casualties

At 3:25 p.m. local time on Tuesday (September 17), two members of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah were eating at a shopping mall in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, when the pager carried by one of the men suddenly exploded, causing serious injuries and bleeding from his arms and eyes. At 3:34 p.m., another explosion occurred in a Hezbollah office. The Wall Street Journal quoted witnesses as saying that the pager used for internal communications received a message consisting of a series of numbers and exploded after a five-second beep. The force of the explosion knocked the man off his chair and the table was blown up.

The New York Times report cited calls from intelligence and defense officials saying the pager received the message, which was sent in Arabic.

Hezbollah leaders blamed Israel for the pager attacks and promised retaliation, but a day later, mysterious explosions occurred again, also targeting communications equipment, mainly walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members.

The massive casualties caused by the attacks have overwhelmed Lebanese hospitals and medical staff. Lebanese Minister of Public Health Firass Abiad said at a press conference on Thursday that the explosions of communication equipment in the past two days have killed 37 people and injured 2,931 people. The explosion on Tuesday killed 12 people and injured 2,323 people, while the explosion on Wednesday killed 25 people and injured 608 people.

On the same day, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged that the deadly bombing was a “serious blow” to Hezbollah, while insisting that Israel had crossed a “red line” in carrying out the operation and vowed to punish Israel.

Abyad told The Wall Street Journal that many people were injured in the face by the sudden explosion when they picked up their pagers to check the messages after receiving the message alert tone.

Hezbollah chooses low-end technology in hopes of evading detection

According to a report by the New York Times on September 18 , after a group of senior Hezbollah special forces were accurately killed by Israel, Hezbollah’s leadership decided around February this year to return to the “primitive” communication technology of pagers to avoid Israel’s mobile phone network positioning tracking.

The report quoted intelligence officials as saying that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah not only banned his members from using mobile phones during meetings, but also strictly stipulated that details of operations and plans could not be conveyed via mobile phones, and that his officers carried pagers at all times.

“You ask me where the agents are, and I tell you, the cell phone in your hand, the cell phone in your wife’s hand, the cell phone in your child’s hand, is the agent,” Nasrallah told his followers in a public televised speech in February.

“Take pagers and walkie-talkies. People who are still using these low-tech platforms in 2024 are doing so because they don’t want to be tracked,” Vivek Chilukuri, director of the technology and national security program at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank, told VOA.

Israel’s Modern Trojan Horse Plan

The New York Times report also quoted intelligence officials as saying that the pager explosion was a modern “Trojan Horse” plan that Israel had long been planning.

According to reports, Israeli intelligence agencies took advantage of Hezbollah’s initiative to switch to pagers and established at least three front companies long ago, posing as international pager manufacturers to produce and sell pagers, sending large quantities of pagers mixed with explosives to Lebanon.

In order to convince Hezbollah, the fake company had previously accepted orders from ordinary customers and produced a batch of ordinary pagers. However, the machines made for Hezbollah were specially made “special” products, and the batteries inside were mixed with PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) explosives.

The New York Times said the explosion could have been triggered by a message sent to the pager; another possibility is that an attacker exploited a vulnerability in the built-in code running the pager, causing the battery to overheat and detonate the explosives.

Chilukuri of the Center for a New American Security told VOA shortly after the explosion that such an attack would require long-term and careful planning. He said: “Both rounds of (attacks) may have originated from so-called supply chain attacks: at the production node of walkie-talkies and pagers, the production was penetrated. A small amount of explosive material was added to these two devices so that they could be remotely detonated at a specific time.”

Destroying communications is both a physical and psychological war

The two attacks shattered Hezbollah’s painstakingly built low-tech communications network. Chilukuri said Israel had already disrupted other forms of modern Hezbollah communications networks before the latest attacks.

“I think the message that Israel is sending is that even if Hezbollah tries to move to lower-tech, supposedly more secure (communications) alternatives, it’s still vulnerable,” he said. “‘We can still find you in your pocket, wherever you are.’ That has a huge psychological impact on Hezbollah’s sense of security and frankly could cause chaos and has caused chaos throughout Lebanon, making it difficult for the medical response there to cope.”

At the same time, not only Hezbollah, but also Lebanese residents are worried that any electronic equipment may be tampered with by foreign enemies.

The Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority issued a notice on September 19, requiring all airlines operating at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport to prohibit the transportation of pagers or walkie-talkie equipment on board.

There were reports that in the initial moments after the explosions began, many residents panicked and unplugged their routers and even televisions in their homes, fearing that the explosives might have infiltrated household appliances.

Max Abrahms, an international security expert at Northeastern University in the United States, believes that the explosion of communications equipment is a powerful psychological warfare launched by Israel against Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah is the most powerful terrorist organization in the world in terms of firepower and state support,” Abraham told VOA via email. “Hezbollah is also a highly resilient organization with thousands of members. Therefore, Israel needs to eliminate more Hezbollah members to significantly weaken the group.”

“The Israeli pager attack was a very effective piece of psychological warfare,” he said. “It sent a message: ‘We are smarter than you are. We can attack you in ways you don’t even realize, don’t even understand. If you cross that line, you will pay the price in unheard-of ways and regret it.'”

It is difficult to imitate a large-scale attack on civilian goods, so ordinary consumers do not need to panic?

There are many precedents for using telephones, pagers and mobile phones to detonate bombs, including in 1996, when the Israeli National Security Agency (Shin Bet) tricked Palestinian Hamas leader Yahya Ayyash into answering a cell phone planted with explosives, killing him.

Experts pointed out that the difference between the explosion of communication equipment on Hezbollah and the explosion of communication equipment this time is the huge scale. However, since such an attack requires complex penetration of the product supply chain, it is difficult for ordinary organizations to imitate it. The public does not need to doubt that ordinary electrical appliances may become “weapons.” Chilukuri said: “The risk of (this threat) blending into the civilian population is relatively low.”

“It’s one thing to want to emulate and attack, it’s another to actually execute. It does require a certain level of sophistication. You have to plan out the entire supply chain … even setting up a shell company to do the final modification of a civilian consumer product,” Chilukuri said. “You have to hope it doesn’t get screened. So it’s not necessarily a capability that everyone, especially non-state actors, can muster.”

Israeli Defense Minister: War enters new phase

Israeli officials have not confirmed or denied carrying out these rounds of bombings against Hezbollah’s mobile equipment. According to the New York Times and CNN and other media, citing multiple sources, the Israeli government was behind the bombings. CNN also reported that Tuesday’s bombings were jointly planned and implemented by the Israel Defense Forces and the intelligence agency Mossad.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that the war had entered a “new era,” a comment interpreted as an acknowledgment of Israel’s role in the explosion of mobile phone equipment in Lebanon.

“We are in a new era of this war and we need to adapt,” Galant said, praising the “remarkable achievements” of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Shin Bet security agency and the Mossad intelligence agency.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is based on the Lebanese side of the border, has lasted for decades. After Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, launched a terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 last year, Hezbollah took the opportunity to open fire on Israel, and tensions between Israel and Hezbollah escalated. Tens of thousands of Israelis have fled their homes in the north, and the Israeli government is facing increasing pressure from voters.

“Obviously, we’ve seen attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, dating back, I believe, to October 8,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a regular press conference on September 19. “Immediately after the October 7 clashes, Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israeli communities, and we saw Israel respond by targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. This has been the pattern since October 7.”