Explosions caught the Hezbollah terrorist group by surprise on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack. International onlookers watch, wondering whether the conflict could boil into all-out war.
The blasts came from electronic devices such as walkie-talkies and pagers. Members of Iran-backed Hezbollah often carry pagers instead of cell phones. Their leader banned cell phones in February, since such devices can be tracked by spies. But pagers don’t use internet or cellular networks. Instead, they use radio waves. They send and receive short written messages.
On Tuesday afternoon in Lebanon and Syria, Hezbollah pagers started heating up. Then they exploded. Someone had rigged the devices and detonated them in a coordinated attack. The strike wounded around 3,000 people and killed at least 12, including Hezbollah members and civilians. On Wednesday, more devices exploded in Lebanon and other parts of Beirut. At least 20 more people died.
Israel has not officially taken credit for the attacks. However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has declared a “new phase” of war. On Wednesday, he also praised the “very impressive” results of Israel’s military and security agencies. Israel has carried out similar attacks before, targeting Hamas with booby-trapped cell phones.
Pagers are tough to track—but they’re easy to weaponize. According to a British bomb disposal expert, explosive devices have five main parts: a container, a battery, a trigger, a detonator, and an explosive charge.
“A pager has three of those already,” says the expert, who spoke anonymously. “You would only need to add the detonator and the charge.”
So who turned the pagers into bombs—and how? That remains a mystery. The companies behind the pager model claim to have no record of sending such devices to Lebanon. Experts speculate that there was interference in the supply chain. The intruder or group of intruders likely rigged the devices before they went to Hezbollah. The operation could have taken months or years.
Some politicians worry about how these attacks might escalate the conflicts between Israel and its surrounding nations. Israel has been waging a war in Gaza for nearly a year. Could these explosions trigger another?
Even political experts don’t know what the future holds. But God does. The Bible tells us not to be alarmed when we hear rumors of war. (Matthew 24:6) Conflicts in a broken world shouldn’t surprise us. They remind us that this world needs a Savior.
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. — Isaiah 2:4
