2024 Lebanon pager explosions

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2024 Lebanon pager explosions
Part of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)
Part of an exploded device
Location	Lebanon and Syria
Date	17–18 September 2024
Target	Hezbollah members[1][2]
Weapons	Pagers and walkie-talkies
Deaths	42[a]
Injured	3,500+[7]
Perpetrator	Israel[b]

On 17 and 18 September 2024, thousands of handheld pagers and hundreds of walkie-talkies intended for use by Hezbollah exploded simultaneously across Lebanon and Syria in an Israeli attack.^[8] As of 22 September 2024,^[update] 42 people had died,^[7][9] including at least 12 civilians.^[10] The incident was described as Hezbollah's biggest security breach since the start of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict in October 2023.^[11]

The first wave of explosions occurred on 17 September, around 15:30 EEST, killing at least 12 people, including two Hezbollah members and two children,^[11][12][13] and wounding more than 2,750,^[14] including Iran's ambassador to Lebanon.^[15] The second wave occurred on 18 September, killing at least 30 people and injuring over 750.^[5][16] Devices targeted in the first wave were pagers, while in the second they were ICOM walkie-talkies.^[17] The explosions occurred in several areas of Lebanon with a Hezbollah presence,^[18][8] as well as in several locations in Syria.^[19][20] There were chaotic scenes at the 150 hospitals across Lebanon that received victims of the explosions.^[21][22]

In February 2024, Hezbollah's secretary-general at the time, Hassan Nasrallah, instructed the group's members to use pagers instead of cell phones, claiming Israel had infiltrated their cell phone network.^[23][24] Hezbollah then purchased Gold Apollo AR924 pagers^[25][26][27] about five months before the explosions.^[28] The Israeli intelligence agency (Mossad) had secretly manufactured the devices, integrated the explosive PETN into the devices, and sold them to Hezbollah through a shell company.^[29][30] International officials and scholars of the law of war have debated the legality of the attacks, with critics suggesting they might constitute war crimes or acts of terrorism.^[31][32][33]

Responding to the attacks, Nasrallah described the explosions as a "major blow"^[34] and labeled them an act of war,^[35] possibly a declaration of war by Israel.^[36][c] On 22 September 2024, Israeli President Isaac Herzog denied any Israeli involvement in the explosions,^[37] though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the same day said, "If Hezbollah has not understood the message, I promise you, it will understand the message."^[38] Following the explosions, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced a "new phase" of the war in northern Israel and Lebanon had begun.^[39] Hezbollah vowed retaliation,^[18] launching a rocket attack on northern Israel a few days later that struck cities such as Nazareth and Kiryat Bialik, injuring several civilians.^[40]

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