On the 17^th of September 2024 at approximately 3:30 P.M. Hezbollah operatives received a message from their leaders on low-technology digital pagers. After the pagers had successfully diverted their attention, the pagers spontaneously exploded. Just one day later, on the 18^th, their handheld radios did the same thing. Past intelligence officials claim that Israel was behind the attack.

Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based pager company Gold Apollo (Bassam and Gebeily). Gold Apollo claims to have, at one point, controlled 99% of the pager market in Netherlands and to have been a provider of pagers to the FBI (Feng), making the events unprecedented, not just because of the scale and complexity, but by the credibility of the name on the devices. Although, according to Gold Apollo, the devices were manufactured by a company based in Hungary: BAC Consulting, who was permitted to use the Gold Apollo trademark through a licensing deal (Feng; Buckley and Chien). BAC Consulting’s website currently returns a “404 Not Found” message, but archived copies claim the company has “over a decade of consulting experience,” and has not reached out to any media agency. The company was registered with the Hungarian Ministry of Justice in May of 2022 (Feng).

Hezbollah had created heavy restrictions pertaining to smartphones in February of this year (Bassam and Gebeily). This came after growing concerns that the devices could be compromised and used for surveillance by Israel as tensions between the two groups increased (Frenkel and Bergman; Bassam and Gebeily). The general advice, which was televised on February 13^th, was that supporters should destroy or bury smartphones (Frenkel and Bergman).

Figure 1: Leading smartphone brands in the Middle East in 2022

Although, Hezbollah believed that smartphones posed a much greater risk, this is not the case, particularly with competent cybersecurity staff. For an example, during 2022 in the Middle East, the leading smartphone brands were Samsung and Xiaomi, a major Chinese phone manufacturer, see Figure 1, (Leading smartphone brands in the Middle East in 2022). In 2022, Samsung’s flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy S22, takes about 31 steps and extensive heat and prying to just get to a point where the battery is removed, and tampering is possible (Day). Similarly, Xiaomi’s, the Xiaomi 12, takes twenty-three (Schnabelrauch). Additionally, the supply chains for these devices are far more secure, the software far more complex – where modifications would be needed to trigger the explosive compound, and it would be far more noticeable that the devices had been modified.

Additionally, the concern that smartphones may be hacked, while reasonable, could be prevented – or at the very least minimized – through common security practices for targeted individuals. Many Android devices, such as the Xiaomi and Samsung phones, could have their operating systems replaced with security-focused alternatives. Lower-end budget devices run Kai OS, which is like Chrome OS, and harnesses security through simplicity and digital minimalism (ITU). Finally, up-to-date iOS instances are incredibly secure – which Cellebrite, the leading technology used by police to access locked phones, cannot compromise (Cox). This has led many to believe that the advice to use fewer complex devices came from Israel, as opposed to those working on the side of Hezbollah.

The pager and handheld radio attacks are a part of an increasingly common series of attacks from Israel on Hezbollah as tensions continue to escalate between the two groups. Tensions between Israel and Lebanon have been high since 1978 after a series of events described as “a Palestinian terrorist rampage” (Farrell) from people residing in southern Lebanon resulting in an invasion from Israel. In 1982 Israel launched a larger invasion to retaliate against the Palestine Liberation Organization which lasted to the year 2000 and nearly 30,000 people were reported to be killed, most of which were civilians (Bigg). Finally, in 2006 Israel bombed and sent armed forces into southern Lebanon, this time as a response to an assault committed by Hezbollah (Bigg).

Each attempted invasion, and subsequent attempt at annexation, left many in positions of hardship. As previously mentioned just under 30,000 people, mostly normal civilians, where killed in the 1982 invasion (Bigg) and Israel faced little to no consequences for their actions as they were doing it as an act of preventing “terrorism.” While it is true that Israel has faced many acts intended to spread terror, it was not until the many attempts of forced globalization that the Lebanese government sponsored Hezbollah.

Although there have been many modern conflicts between the two states the first sign of tension dates to the post-World War II era. On November 29^th, 1947, the United Nations agreed on a partitioned map of the Palestinian land creating the state of Israel and a single Arabian state (Hamilton; The Learning Network). This resulted in the mass migration of many Palestinian people searching for a place to live. This foreign policy is one of the earliest identifiable factors conducive to the creation of Hezbollah.

Finally, and most recently, the entirety of Lebanon, and particularly South Lebanon, exists in extreme poverty. As of 2021, 35.3% of households in southern Lebanon are in extreme poverty and 82% of households throughout Lebanon are in a state of multidimensional poverty. Multidimensional poverty is when a single household is deprived of education, health, public utilities, housing, assets/property, and employment/income – within Lebanon the dimension with the most access is health, which still only 30% of households have access to (United Nations). It is well known that poverty is a factor which creates and fuels terrorism and is clearly present within Lebanon.

Officially, Hezbollah is a political party and paramilitary organization (Abdelfatah, Arablouei and Wu) founded in 1982 and publicly announced itself in 1985 (Inskeep).

Although Lebanon sponsors the terrorist organization Hezbollah it is not out of a single isolated incident. Lebanon, particularly the southern region, has faced many external factors causing hardships for its people such as foreign policies, globalization, and extreme poverty causing individuals and groups to act out against those they believe to be responsible. To this day Lebanon, through Hezbollah, continues to target and be targeted by Israel.

Reflection

I am happy with this essay, especially with how much I learned in the process of making it. Although I ended up rewriting it over the weekend, I feel good about the decision – and continue to feel as though the original was not moving in the right direction. If I were to change something about my process, I’d end up working on a better way of organizing all the resources outside of my document – I feel as though I wasted a lot of time just trying to find information that I already read and wanted more context to.

Although I learned a lot, it was hard to write, there are so many people who deserve to have their side of the story heard and I feel as though it is hard to give everyone justice through my words. It was also hard because of the amount of violence on both sides of the constant fighting, I always believe that people do not try to do things for the wrong reasons – but learning about those who indoctrinate others into ending people’s lives really hurts me.

Overall, I thank you for the assignment, I love learning about things with a real-world context and, even though it was difficult, this really meet that need for myself.

Works Cited