Delhi : The recent explosion in Lebanon has killed 32 people, and 3,250 people were left injured. A 9 year old girl along with other citizens is also killed in these attacks. The explosions were carried out by walkie-talkies and pagers. Around thousands of pagers exploded in the last two days. Who carried out the attack is yet to be found out, but the members of Hezbollah have sworn to take revenge. Reports has it that these terrorist attacks are carried out by Israel.
Since the outbreak of war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, following a surprise attack by Hamas on Israeli towns, hostilities have escalated between Israel and Hezbollah along the Lebanese border. Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah and supported by Iran, has intensified its war of liberation. But this time the war had taken a new phase.
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What are pagers?
Pagers are first-generation hand-held wireless telecommunication devices. Compared to a mobile, pagers have very limited functions. Only one way communication can be done with pagers. there is no option for replying back.
Pagers were first introduced in the 1950s and gained popularity in the 1980s and 90s. Messages on a pager are carried out via radio waves. So, essentially, pagers are small radio receivers. Messages from pages can be transmitted to a large area. Hence, it can be used for group communication. Every pager has its own number, just like a mobile phone. Messages that are combined with this number can be received only by the specific pager that is meant to receive it. Other pagers can sense the signal but cannot decode it to read it.
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Why are pagers used by Hezbollah members?
Hezbollah is an army-like organization where a command to a group is enough to carry out any activity. Pagers location canтАЩt be tracked, unlike mobile phones. They can be used even in areas where networks are not available, one of the advantages of radio waves. Because of less functionality, pagers can sustain for months on a single battery. This becomes easy for people to use where there is no power supply. Pagers can be useful in areas where phones fail to work.
Modern pagers contain very few electronic components: a radio receiver, a small circuit board, a tiny display, a battery, and a small speaker for alerts. Unlike mobile phones or networked computers, which can be hacked remotely, pagers are relatively difficult to compromise. While the messages they receive can be intercepted due to being transmitted over open radio waves, the devices themselves are not susceptible to advanced hacking techniques.
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As a result, the theory that the explosions were caused by manipulating the hardware to create excessive heat has been largely dismissed. A more plausible explanation suggests that explosives were implanted within the devices, which could then be triggered remotely. However, questions remain about when and how these explosives were installed before the pagers reached customers.
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Reports indicate that the exploded pages were part of a batch purchased from a Taiwanese manufacturer, which has stated that these devices were sourced from a European distributor. An Hungarian company is supplier of these devices to Lebanon.
