Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other officials briefed on the operation.

The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.

The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.

MBFC
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    • Flying SquidMEnglish
      18•2 months ago

      I have not seen a doctor with a pager in a long time and I have spent a ton of time in hospitals over the past year. They all have smartwatches now.

      • @Shiftless@infosec.pubEnglish
        15•2 months ago

        Doctors still have pagers. The pager will just have a phone number the doctor needs to call as to not violate patient privacy. Instead of calling the doctor directly, they use a pager to request a call because of the bad service that is common within hospitals. At least that’s what I know

      • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8•2 months ago

        I have not seen a doctor with a pager in a long time

        My friend’s a pulminologist and his hospital still uses pagers. They just never bothered to upgrade their 20 year old system to use SMS. And he says he’s partial to it, because he’s not forced to check his phone every time it rings when 99% of the messages are spam texts anyway.

      • @IphtashuFitz@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7•2 months ago

        Back when cell phones were just starting to get “smart” I knew a few folks that carried both a pager & phone. They lived in rural areas where pager coverage was decent but phone coverage was spotty at best, and non-existent in places.

      • @IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5•2 months ago

        Is this universal around all of Lebanon or only the hospital you were at? There were reports claiming medical personnel were hit with the pagers.

        • Flying SquidMEnglish
          3•2 months ago

          Did OP mean in Lebanon when they said that doctors in 2024 were the foremost use of pagers?

          Since they asked which country I was talking about, I think they just meant it in general.

          • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5•2 months ago

            That’s not true. Pagers are still in regular use for two reasons:

            • Hospitals hate upgrading their tech infrastructure, so they’ll sit on a 20 year old system until it falls to pieces

            • Pagers don’t get spam texts at the same volume as cell phones, so you can be confident that when your pager rings its serious and not automated solicitations.

              • @finitebanjo@lemmy.worldEnglish
                2•2 months ago

                For using deviced capable of recording audio and transmitting photos of the environment at all times. Every patient that comes through has all of their vulnerabilities exposed.

                I hope hospitals that promote such behavior get sued into the ground.