In unprecedented covert operations, Israel triggered explosions on thousands of pagers and hundreds of walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah fighters and followers in back-to-back attacks on Sept. 17 and 18, 2024. Both attacks targeted Hezbollah in at least three strongholds—Beirut, the eastern Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon. Some pagers also detonated in neighboring Syria. In a speech on September 19, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that "retribution will come."
The escalation was the single largest blow to the Lebanese militia, which is Iran’s most important ally in the Middle East. It also signaled Israel’s growing shift from the Gaza war in the south to the tense 49–mile northern front with Hezbollah—and potentially a turning point for war in the wider Middle East.
Shortly before the pagers exploded on September 17, Israel announced that the Security Cabinet had decided to expand its military focus. “The center of gravity is shifting northward, meaning that we are increasingly diverting forces, resources, and energy towards the North,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on September 18. Military strikes along the northern border have intensified since the outbreak of the Gaza War on Oct. 7, 2023, as Hezbollah fired rockets almost daily on northern Israel. Some 70,000 fled Israeli towns, farms and kibbutzim with long-term impact on the economy, schooling, and security. Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have led some 112,000 residents to flee villages, town and farms.
The Israel operations seriously degraded Hezbollah’s ability to communicate with its fighters as Israel mobilized forces closer to the northern border. The pager attacks:
- Injured almost 3,000 Lebanese
- Killed at least 12, including two children
- Injured Mojtaba Amani, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, who reportedly lost one eye and injured the other
- Overwhelmed Lebanese hospitals
Arab news outlets reported that the explosives were pre-planted in the AR-924 pagers, which were produced in Hungary on a license from Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company. Hezbollah pledged retaliation for the “sinful assault, both in ways that are expected and unexpected.”
The walkie-talkie attack the next day was smaller in scale but a further humiliating blow to Hezbollah and, potentially, its military capabilities. The walkie-talkie operation:
- Injured at least 608
- Killed at least 25
- Sparked fires in Beirut’s southern suburbs as well as the Bekaa Valley
- Added to stress on Lebanese health facilities
The United States and the European Union expressed alarm about the operations. In Cairo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned all parties against actions that would intensify regional hostilities. “We remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we’re trying to resolve in Gaza to see it spread to other fronts. It’s clearly not in the interest of anyone involved to see that happen,” he said at a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. “It’s imperative that all parties refrain from any actions that could escalate the conflict.”
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the operations for endangering Lebanon’s stability and increasing the risk of regional escalation. “Even if the attacks seem to have been targeted, they had heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians, including children among the victims,” he said in a statement after meeting with the Lebanese foreign minister on Sept. 18, 2024. “I consider this situation extremely worrying.”
In contrast, President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the use of pagers as tools for “assassination and annihilation.” The attack “once again showed that western nations and Americans fully support crime, killings, and blind assassinations by the Zionist regime,” he said in a cabinet meeting on September 18, according to the presidential website.
Israel has pledged to continue military operations against Hezbollah, the most experienced and well-armed non-state actor in the world, until it withdraws from the border and ends rocket and missile strikes. Hezbollah, in turn, has vowed not to stop until the Gaza war ends. Between October 2023 and mid-September 2024:
- Hezbollah launched more than 8,000 rockets and more than 450 drones at Israel.
- Israel carried out more than 7,000 strikes in Lebanon.
Both sides have suffered deaths and casualties. At least 25 Israeli civilians and 21 soldiers have been killed in Hezbollah attacks. Israel had already been linked to the deaths of at least 48 senior Hezbollah commanders and more than 430 operatives between Oct. 8, 2023 and Sept. 17, 2024. Israel killed Fuad Shukr, one of Hezbollah’s most senior commander and a close advisor to Nasrallah, on July 30. At least 137 civilians in Lebanon have reportedly been killed in Israeli strikes.
