In the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Israel has surprised Hezbollah through an old technology. Several pager explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday killed eight people and injured more than 2700 people. Hezbollah said in a statement that at 3:30 in the afternoon, their organization’s pagers started exploding mysteriously. But the question is why did Israel choose pagers to create fear in Hezbollah and why are pagers being used in today’s era when mobile phones are quite advanced.
Pager is an old technology that has been in use for several decades. It is a small and portable electronic device whose main purpose is to receive short messages or alerts. In some cases pagers are also used to send messages. This device receives messages using radio frequency and displays the text and number on the pager screen.
There are many types of pagers. Numeric pagers display only numbers and are used for general communication. Alphanumeric pagers, on the other hand, can display both text and numbers, allowing more detailed messages to be sent. Despite the decreasing use of pagers, they are still used in certain industries. They are especially used in health care and emergency services. Apart from this, pagers have also been used to send secret messages.
However, with the advent of mobile phones, pager usage has declined considerably. Mobile phones offer features such as calls, text messages and internet access. Nevertheless, pagers are still used in certain circumstances.
Regarding the pager explosion incident in Lebanon, an unidentified Hezbollah official told the news agency Associated Press (AP) that these explosions could be the result of a security operation. The official says that Israel may be behind this incident. Apart from this, he also said that the pagers of Hezbollah members had lithium batteries installed in them. Lithium batteries are known for their ability to heat up and can produce smoke, melt and catch fire. These batteries are commonly found in consumer electronics such as mobile phones, laptops and electric vehicles.
To avoid Israeli surveillance, Hezbollah fighters were using communication systems like pagers, which helped them avoid Israeli surveillance. In the recent pager blast, it is being claimed that Hezbollah had purchased alphanumeric pagers which were manufactured by Taiwan’s Gold Apollo Company Limited. According to Israeli media reports, these pagers exploded.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the blast and called it a major security lapse. After this incident, Hezbollah has advised its fighters to stop using pagers. The possibility of a cyber attack behind the pager blast is also being raised, but at the moment neither Israel has denied these allegations nor has Hezbollah presented any concrete evidence.
