Ex-Lebanese general says Hezbollah acquired 5,000 explosive-rigged pagers five months ago

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A batch of 5,000 pager devices imported by Hezbollah five months ago was “almost certain" to have been rigged with explosives before arriving in Lebanon, a former Lebanese brigadier general said Wednesday.

The wireless devices “were rigged with several grams of hard-to-detect explosives, placed in the battery in a way that ensures they can’t be detected by sensors or any explosive detection tools,” Mounir Shehada, the government’s former coordinator with the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL, told Anadolu.

He said the type of explosives has not yet been confirmed, with laboratories still working on that, but they are “sophisticated explosives made from modern materials that can’t be detected by sensors.”

“Lithium batteries, if they catch fire or explode, do not cause such damage,” Shehada said.

“Footage showed that there was a powerful explosion, whereas a lithium battery produces only a small flame and a very minimal explosion that wouldn't result in such a blast.”

Regarding the location or country where the devices were rigged, Shehada said, “It is too early to discuss that, but the rigging could have taken place during the manufacturing phase or at other stages.”

At least 12 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others injured when the pagers exploded Tuesday in several areas in Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, which Lebanese media suggested was an Israeli breach of the system.

There was no comment from Israel on the pager blasts, but Hezbollah vowed to retaliate against Israel following the explosions.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is set to give an address on Thursday at 17:00 local time (1500GMT) on the explosions, how the devices were rigged and his group’s response to the blasts, Shehada said.

The pager blasts came amid mounting border escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, which have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Tel Aviv’s deadly war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 41,200 people, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack Oct. 7 last year.