Pager attack in Lebanon: Why was Hezbollah using outdated pagers in 2024?

In an unprecedented security breach faced by Hezbollah in years, pagers used by them blew up simultaneously across Lebanon on Wednesday.
The remote explosion in the pagers killed at least nine and injured over 3000 people, mostly the Hezbollah militants and medics.
It has been reported that the explosions were part of a well-planned attack that Israel's Mossad spy agency had been working on for months.
Mossad reportedly infiltrated into a production unit of a Taiwan-based company Gold Apollo that made the pagers and installed explosives into the devices meant for supply to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

News agency Reuters has confirmed that the design and name on the exploded pagers were consistent and were linked to the company that produced it.
However, Gold Apollo issued a statement saying that the devices were made by a company in Europe that had the right to use its brand.
The explosions maimed many Hezbollah members, according to footage from hospitals reviewed by Reuters. Wounded men had injuries of varying degrees to the face, missing fingers and gaping wounds at the hip where the pagers were likely worn.
Israel had reportedly planted 3-gram explosives in most of the 5,000 pagers delivered to Hezbollah.
"We really got hit hard," a senior Lebanese security source, who has direct knowledge of the group's probe into the explosions, told news agency AP.
Israel, however, has not claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Why was Hezbollah using pagers?
Iran-backed Hezbollah had issued directives to its members to use pagers -- which were prevalent during the mid-90s -- instead of phones, which are highly traceable and could have made targeted strikes for Israel certainly easier.
After the killing of senior commanders in targeted Israeli airstrikes, Hezbollah was using pager as a low-tech strategy to evade its foe's sophisticated surveillance technology.
Hezbollah has also been using its own tech – drones – to study and attack Israel's intelligence gathering capabilities in what Hezbollah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has described as a strategy of "blinding" Israel.
A Hezbollah official described the pager explosions as the "biggest security breach" the organisation had experienced in almost a year of conflict with Israel.
"The enemy (Israel) stands behind this security incident that targeted the devices," the official said, without elaborating.
The Israeli military, which has been engaged in a cross-broader exchange of fire with Hezbollah since last October, coinciding with the Gaza war, has kept mum on the entire development.
What are pagers?
Pagers, also known as beepers, are wireless telecommunications devices that receive and display alphanumeric or voice messages. They were widely used in the 1980s but are still relied upon by specific groups, such as medical professionals.
A source identified a photograph of the model of the pager used by Hezbollah, an AP924.
As the fear of escalation grows deeper in the wake of pager blasts, it will not be the first time when Israel and Hezbollah may enter into a direct conflict.
In July, a rocket strike on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights killed at least 11 children and teens, making it the deadliest attack on an Israeli target along the northern border since the conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reignited.
In retaliation, Israel carried out an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, killing at least three people.
The Israeli military claimed that the strike targeted a Hezbollah commander allegedly responsible for a deadly rocket attack in the contested Golan Heights, which resulted in the deaths of 12 youths.