लेबनान के घरों, दुकानों और गाड़ियों में ब्लास्ट: क्या है पेजर, जिसके फटने से 4000 घायल हुए; जेब में क्यों रखते थे हिज्बुल्लाह के लड़ाके

The people injured in the pager blast have been admitted to the hospital. But due to lack of space, they are being treated on the floor.

On September 18, explosions suddenly started taking place in Lebanon, in people’s homes, streets and markets. Blasts took place from Lebanon to Syria for 1 hour.

According to media reports, these were serial pager blasts targeting Hezbollah. So far 9 people have lost their lives and more than 3 thousand people have been injured in these blasts. This is the biggest attack on Hezbollah’s communication system so far.

What are these pagers, why does Hezbollah use them in the age of mobile phones and how did they explode? Answers to 5 important questions…

This picture going viral on social media is being said to be of Hezbollah’s pager. Before the blast (left) After the blast (right)

Question 1: Why does Hezbollah use pagers?

Understand the answer from the story…

Place- Gaza Strip, Date- 6 March 1966

Senior Hamas member Yahya Ayyash had gone to spend the night at his childhood friend Osama Hamad’s house. Just then the phone rang in Hamad’s house. Ayyash was told that it was his father’s call and he wanted to talk to him. As soon as Ayyash started talking, there was an explosion and he was killed.

Carmi Gilon, former director of the Israeli security agency Shin Bet, says that his agency carried out this blast. An agent of Shin Bet got information from Hamad’s uncle about Ayyash’s meeting with Hamad in exchange for money and Israeli identity.

A cellular phone was installed in Hamad’s house. Hamad’s uncle was told that they only wanted to listen to Ayyash’s conversation through it. However, Shinbet had fitted 15 grams of RDX in it. As soon as Ayyash started talking on the phone, the phone was blasted using the remote control.

This was the incident after which Israel’s enemies across the world, including Hamas and Hezbollah, became alert. Hamas started using satellite phones. Whereas Hezbollah adopted pagers that run on radio waves.

According to a New York Times report, after the attack on Israel on October 7 last year, Hezbollah started using pagers on a large scale so that the Israeli intelligence agency could not track them.

Question 2: What is the pager that Hezbollah uses to escape Israel?

answer: A pager is a wireless device, which is also known as a beeper. The pager was first used in New York City in 1950. Then it was possible to send messages through it within a range of 40 kilometers. In the 1980s, it started being used all over the world.

After 2000, walkie-talkies and mobile phones replaced it. The pager usually has a small screen with a limited keypad. It is used to send messages in two ways – 1. Voice message 2. Alphanumeric message. Media reports are claiming that the pagers that exploded in Lebanon are alphanumeric.

Radio waves are used to send messages from pagers. It is sent through a transmitter installed at the base station. Advanced pagers are given code numbers like phone numbers. On dialing that code, messages are transferred only to that pager. This is a very secure medium of communication, which cannot be easily traced by any security agency. To trace such a device, it is necessary to be in its range.

The pager neither has GPS nor does it have an IP address so that it can be traced like a mobile phone. The number of the pager can be changed, due to this it is not easy to trace the pager.

The specialty of a pager is that once charged, it can be used for more than a week. Whereas a mobile phone needs to be charged in one or two days. This is the reason why it is used in remote locations.

This is how pagers connect to the base station

Question 3: How did pagers explode one after another in Lebanon?

answer: There are two theories about how the pager exploded.

1. Hacking: According to American media house CNN, it is possible that the pagers were hacked and the lithium batteries in them were overheated and detonated. However, this possibility is almost negligible. According to America’s National Security Analyst David Kennedy, the kind of explosions that have happened cannot be caused by hacking the device and overheating the battery.

2. Supply Chain Attacks: One speculation is that explosives may have been inserted into the pagers either during supply or manufacturing, which would detonate only when a specific message was received.

Experts are increasingly suspecting this. American analysts John Hultquist and David Kennedy both believe that this may have happened. Pagers were recently supplied to Hezbollah.

A former British military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pagers might have been fitted with 10 to 20 grams of high-grade military explosives.

See the intensity of the blast in the video below…

Question 4: Why are Lebanon’s pager explosions being called electronic warfare?

Answer: According to US weapons manufacturing company Lockheed Martin, electronic warfare is when electromagnetic signals are used in war to attack or defend.

In Lebanon, several radio wave operated pagers exploded simultaneously. It is being speculated that Israel sent a coded message to the pagers using electromagnetic radio waves to kill its enemies, which led to the blasts.

According to the New York Times, the method of electronic warfare has been adopted to eliminate enemies since the time of the Second World War. Through this technology, drones, jammers or fighter jets of enemy countries can be deceived and confused.

Electronic warfare has also been used extensively in the Russia-Ukraine war. At the end of 2022, Ukraine claimed to have killed 400 Russian soldiers who were hiding in one place. Ukraine said that the Russian soldiers were using mobile phones. Their location was revealed due to their network signals.

Question 5: If the Israeli intelligence agency has carried out the attack in Lebanon, then what is its motive?

answer: According to Rami Khouri, a fellow at the American University in Beirut, it is possible that Israel has carried out these attacks to weaken Hezbollah mentally. This will reduce Hezbollah’s confidence.

This attack on Hezbollah is quite different from the previous ones. Through this Israel has given the message that it has so much intelligence, technology and power that it can carry out its mission anywhere.

Lebanon’s economy is very weak. Hospitals lack resources. In such a situation, such attacks can create negative sentiments against Hezbollah among the people there.

Hezbollah has accused Israel of carrying out the attack and warned of revenge.

Question 6: How is mobile tracked during war?

answer: Layer-3 electronic warfare system is used to track mobiles during war. In this system, a military vehicle is connected to two or more drones. A special type of device called cell site simulator is fitted in the drone. When the drone reaches the enemy area, it catches the signal of the device being used there.

After this, the drone sends the information about the strength and direction of the phone’s signal to the system installed in the military vehicle. This makes it easy to find out where the phone is being used. Russia is an expert in this technology, Ukraine has attacked it using Russia’s own technology.