- 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:
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.