Israel is accused of carrying out an audacious, high-tech and targeted attack on Hezbollah.

The unprecedented mass explosion of handheld pagers used by Hezbollah fighters came after the military group switched from mobile phones as a means of communication to reduce the risk of being tracked by Israel.

No one has claimed responsibility but Lebanese officials have accused Israel, which has not commented on the blasts.

There is a long history of Israel being accused of using inventive methods to eliminate its enemies.

Pager explosions: Middle East latest

How pagers could be deployed as bombs

A security expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Sky News someone could have tampered with these devices before they were distributed – such as by hiding explosives inside them that could be detonated remotely when a certain signal is sent to the pager.

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Pagers pre-date mobile phones and are now uncommon in most Western countries, but were widely used in the 1980s and 1990s. They are a one-way communications device, allowing people to send a short message via radio signal to the pager. Often, in the past, it would have been a phone number inviting people to call back.

The source said the “general view I am hearing is that this was an impressive attack” which required a certain amount of co-ordination.

“It looks likely that the pagers they [Hezbollah] purchased may have been compromised and turned into remote bombs,” the security expert said, stressing that this was just speculation based on his expertise.

“[It] seems too coordinated and powerful an explosion to just be malfunction,” adding it was less likely to have been caused by the batteries overheating.

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In Beirut, worried relatives gathered outside a hospital where the injured are being treated. Pic: Reuters

Injuries ‘consistent’ with high explosives

Bomb disposal expert and former British army officer Chris Hunter said: “We’ve seen this sort of similar MO [particular method] with mobile devices before.”

In 1996, Hamas master bomb maker Yahya Ayyash “was assassinated using a mobile phone with a small amount of explosives in it,” he said.

Mr Hunter says his initial theory – based on injuries – suggests the blasts are “consistent with 1 to 2 ounces of high explosive. And you could certainly get that amount in a pager.

“We’ve seen ETA [a separatist group operating in Spain], we’ve seen the Colombian groups, we’ve seen the provisional IRA use pagers as explosive devices,” he said.

Israel’s long history of high-tech warfare

Israel’s spy agencies have a long history of being linked to assassinations and covert activities using high-tech bombs and devices. Here is a summary of some of them:

1972: Bassam Abu Sharif

He was injured in Beirut when he opened a package containing a book implanted with a bomb which exploded. He was the spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

He survived but lost several fingers, was left deaf in one ear and blind in one eye.

1972: Mahmoud Hamshari

A representative from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was killed in Paris in 1972 when a bomb was planted under a telephone and remotely detonated.

The coffin of Yahya Ayyash is carried into the Palestine mosque for funeral services January 6 as the crowd of Hamas movement supporters rushes to touch the plain wooden coffin. Ayyash, known as "The Engineer", was killed yesterday when a booby-trapped cellular telephone exploded. He was responsible for the death of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and topped Israel's most-wanted list. Tens of thousands of Palestinians turned out for his funeral and vowed revenge against Israel
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The funeral of Yahya Ayyash, known as “The Engineer”, killed when a booby-trapped mobile phone exploded. File pic: Reuters

1996: Yahya Ayyash

He earned the nickname “The Engineer” and apparently helped develop suicide bombs used in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

2000: Samih Malabi

A Fatah activist from the Kalandia refugee camp outside Ramallah, was killed when a booby-trapped mobile phone exploded next to his head.

2007: Stuxnet

A powerful computer worm designed by US and Israeli intelligence that is believed to have disabled a key part of the Iranian nuclear program.

Stuxnet was designed to destroy the centrifuges Iran used to enrich uranium as part of its weapons programme.

It is reported the worm was delivered to the facility on a thumb drive by an Iranian double agent working for Israel.

2020: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

An Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated in Iran by a remote-controlled machine gun mounted on a car.

The scene of the attack. Pic: IRIB / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
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Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun. File pic: IRIB / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

Mr Fakhrizadeh was travelling in a bulletproof vehicle alongside three security personnel vehicles when he heard what sounded like bullets hitting his car.

After he reportedly left the vehicle, a Nissan fitted with a remote-controlled machine gun then opened fire killing him.