Hezbollah, pagers and the role of hackers in the Middle East war
Explosions and injuries in the silent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah: the war is also being fought in cyber space
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There is a silent and barely visible war between Hezbollah and Israel: the technological war. On 17 September, several explosions targeted Hezbollah members following the alleged tampering with pagers by Israeli forces. The explosions, which mainly involved the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, resulted in hundreds of injuries and some casualties. The attack is distinguished by the use of advanced technology, a sign that warfare no longer takes place only on the battlefield, but also in cyber space.
According to security sources and local media, Israeli intelligence manipulated the pagers used by Hezbollah members, provoking them to overheat and explode. Hezbollah, long aware of Israel's ability to infiltrate its communication systems, had already reduced the use of smartphones in favour of pagers, considered safer and more difficult to intercept. But if there is one thing this attack proves, it is that no technology can be entirely immune to external interference.
Images circulated on social media show severely injured people, including Hezbollah fighters and medical personnel. Israel's ability to breach Hezbollah communications in this way represents an 'unprecedented security breach', according to an official of the Shia movement.
The role of technology in the war between Israel and Hezbollah
.The war between Hezbollah and Israel is gradually transforming, moving from the conventional military front to the technological one. The tampering with pagers represents a new chapter in this escalation and demonstrates the growing importance of cyberwarfare . Pagers are relatively antiquated communication tools, but for Hezbollah they represented an effective solution to avoid Israeli electronic eavesdropping.
Their tampering indicates the existence of vulnerabilities within the Shia organisation's communication systems, which Israel was able to exploit. According to military experts, the pagers were likely compromised before being distributed to Hezbollah members, suggesting deep infiltration by Israeli intelligence or a third party.
