The Death Toll Of The Pager Explosion In Lebanon Increases To 12 People Including 2 Children

UNSPLASH/Luis Skchez ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The death toll from the explosion of a pager in Lebanon increased to 12 people including two children, said Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad.

Reported by Reuters on Wednesday, September 18, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government accused Israel of being responsible for the explosion of hundreds of pagers. Israel has not commented on this incident.

The explosion of thousands of pagers and information on the presence of thousands of pagers who were fitted with materials, were considered to be a failure against the Hezbollah group counterintelligence, Lebonon, while on the other hand showed the intelligence capabilities of Israel infiltrated its enemy.

The Israeli spy agency Mossad is said to have planted explosives on 5,000 pagers ordered by Hezbollah. About 3,000 pagers exploded on Tuesday, September 17.

A wave of explosions rocked southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut known as Dahiyeh and the eastern Bekaa Valley, all of which were Hezbollah's strongholds.

Hezbollah fighters have used pagers as a means of low-tech communications in a bid to avoid tracking Israeli locations, two sources familiar with the group's operations told Reuters this year, as quoted September 18.

Hezbollah was shaken by the attack, which left the fighters and others covered in blood, hospitalized, or dead.

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the explosion was the group's "largest security breach" since the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hezbollah's ally, Hamas, erupted on October 7.

"This will be the biggest counterintelligence failure Hezbollah has experienced in decades," said Jonathan Panikoff, the former deputy national intelligence official of the US government for the Middle East.