Walkie-Talkies Explode in New Attack on Hezbollah
With Hezbollah and Lebanon still reeling from a coordinated wave of pager explosions on Tuesday that killed at least 12 people and injured thousands, another bombardment began on Wednesday, this time taking the form of exploding two-way radios. Footage of the explosions, which was not independently confirmed by WIRED, appears to show even larger blasts than those that emanated from the booby-trapped pagers.
Lebanon’s official news agency also reported exploding home solar systems less than two hours after the radio detonations began on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Details of the alleged solar equipment attacks were still developing at the time of publication.
The walkie-talkie explosions appeared to have been orchestrated the same way as the attack on Tuesday, which was likely carried out by intercepting new pagers at some point in their journey through the supply chain and modifying them to add explosive material. Hezbollah had reportedly expanded its use of pagers recently in an attempt to secure communications after the group feared that other channels had been infiltrated by Israeli intelligence. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Hezbollah purchased the walkie-talkies about five months ago as part of the same initiative that led the group to purchase the pagers.
In a statement after Wednesday’s explosions, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 300 people had been injured and nine people had died, with incidents being reported in several regions of the country. The Lebanese Red Cross said more than 30 ambulances were involved in the treatment of people injured.
Though details of Wednesday’s attack are still emerging, the perpetrator of Tuesday’s exploding pager operation is widely believed to be Israel. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has intensified over the past year since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. On Tuesday, Hezbollah blamed Israel for the “criminal aggression that targeted civilians too.”
“I’m floored by the sophistication of this operation,” says Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy, who formerly worked for the US National Security Agency. “The scale of this supply chain compromise is unprecedented. It’s hard to imagine what technology Hezbollah could consider ‘safe’ at this point.”
Photos and videos posted to social media on Wednesday appeared to show handheld radios, or walkie-talkies, in various states of destruction. In many of the images, the devices, which are larger and bulkier than smartphones, had one side of their casing removed. Middle East experts citing local media reports noted that cars, scooters, and even buildings appear to have been damaged by tampered devices.
“From what we are seeing, including images circulating on social media, the devices exploding are handheld radios, possibly an Icom model,” says Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at the risk management company Le Beck International.
The second round of explosions on Wednesday indicates that whoever conducted the sabotage and attacks likely had deeply rooted access and knowledge of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and operations. “This shows an even deeper penetration that may have relied on multiple fronts and multiple vectors (different electronic devices and providers),” Horowitz says. “This is unheard of.”
Israel has not yet commented on any of the attacks, and the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment about the second round of explosions.
The pagers that exploded on Tuesday were mostly Gold Apollo AR-924 model pagers, which the Taiwan-based company says were produced by a third-party firm, Hungary-based BAC Consulting. The New York Times reports that 1 to 2 ounces of explosive were inserted in the pagers before they were distributed to members of Hezbollah. A person listed as the CEO of BAC Consulting did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. A Hungarian government spokesperson has claimed the company is a “trading intermediary” and does not have a “manufacturing or operational site in Hungary.”
Following the first round of explosions on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch called for an investigation, saying it was not possible to locate all the sabotaged pagers and, as a result, they could end up striking “military targets and civilians without distinction.”
“Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby traps—objects that civilians are likely to be attracted to or are associated with normal civilian daily use—precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon today,” Lama Fakih, the group’s Middle East and North Africa director said in a statement.
US secretary of state Anthony Blinken on Wednesday denied the US had advance knowledge of Tuesday’s attack.
“The United States did not know about, nor was it involved in, these incidents,” he said at a conference in Cairo, Egypt. “We’re still gathering the information and gathering the facts.”
