Hezbollah Pager Attack Details Point to Supply-Chain Infiltration by Israel

A picture began to emerge Wednesday of a highly complex attack carried out by Israel, after thousands of pagers carried by members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah exploded around the same time a day earlier.

Many of the affected pagers were from a new shipment that Hezbollah had received recently, part of a nearly yearlong process to swap out older devices. The group said they detonated in rough unison at 3:30 p.m. Survivors reported hearing the pagers beep and display a series of numbers on their screens about five seconds before they detonated.

According to people familiar with Hezbollah’s investigation, the initial assessment is the pagers detonated because an explosive device was planted in the new models. The scenario indicates Israel found its way into Hezbollah’s supply chain to modify the devices that were delivered.