- Middle East Moniter: Iran envoy, Hezbollah members injured as pagers explode in Lebanon.
- Iran Front Page: Hundreds wounded after pagers explode in Lebanon.
- SMEX: Mass attack targeting pagers in Lebanon: What happened?
Based on SMEX’s analysis, three scenarios could explain what happened today.
- Tampered devices
It is possible that the exploded pagers were part of a shipment that had been tampered with during transit. For example, small explosive devices could have been planted in them and remotely activated or set to detonate via a timer.
- Overheated batteries
The pagers were not intercepted, but Israeli intelligence may have developed a way to exploit a vulnerability in the devices, potentially causing them to overheat and leading to battery explosions.
- Explosions activated through radio waves
The pagers that exploded might have been tampered with during shipping (a supply chain attack), and later activated through radio waves emitted from a ground station or an intelligence device (such as an Airborne Warning and Control System, AWACS) to detonate the devices.
I highly recommend reading the SMEX article as it contains their full explanation for various questions.
Latest updates:
Based on the videos I’ve seen, I don’t think it’s just batteries. Li-ion batteries don’t really explode, they burst into a lot of flames and stay burning for a while.
Yeah agreed, battery fires go with lots of flames and smoke. Especially the video of the guy that had it on his desk… multiple holes no enormous fire.
Lion batteries have flames without explosions because of design considerations with the batteries: vent holes that allow pressure and heat to escape a failing battery. It’s possible that if those safeguards were compromised, you could trigger an actual explosion.