On Tuesday 17th September, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously.

12 were killed including 2 children, a woman and some medical staff and around 8 Hezbollah members. The attack was carried out by Israel who had managed to rig the pagers that Hezbollah uses with explosives. detonations went off around Syria and Lebanon and injured nearly 3000 people including Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon.

A US official told AP that America had been briefed by Israel before the operation but the state department issued a statement denying any knowledge or involvement and Israel has declined to comment so far. The Lebanese government has also issued a complaint to the UN and the USA has urged Iran not to escalate.

It is unclear how the operation took place but analysts say it was likely a supply chain tampering, the explosives were planted during the manufacturing.

This comes shortly after an Israeli war cabinet meeting which added the objective of returning the residents of northern Israel to their homes as they have been displaced by the continuous Hezbollah attacks.