UPDATE:
A Hezbollah Intelligence Official has stated that the Encrypted Pagers were emitted “Beep, Beep” several times, before then Exploding near the Head or Abdomen of the Victim; with the Explosion believed now to have originated from within the Lithium Battery of the Pager.
-- Lebanon Ministry of Health now reporting just shy of four-thousand (4,000) injured in hospitals. More dead also confirmed, just not known how many yet. Last confirmed death toll: 8.
-- Israel has called the Commanders of several different Army units into a classified meeting, fearing military retaliation by Hezbollah.
-- According to Israeli Channel 14; Senior Israeli Military Officials are preparing for a 3rd Hezbollah War which is expected to begin almost Immediately
Update(1445ET): Official Lebanese Health Ministry figures are that nine people were killed in the simultaneous pager explosions, including a young girl, and some 2,750 wounded. The Lebanese government has identified "Israeli aggression" as being behind the attack, while Hezbollah also says it holds Israel "fully responsible". Israel has yet to issue official comment, but there are several reports from the region that war preparations are underway. But the border has been surprisingly quiet in the hours after.
Reuters is confirming that Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani is among the wounded
Based on the information available up to September 17, 2024, there's no direct evidence or records indicating that a standard stock pager can explode on its own. Here's what we can infer from the information provided:
Technical Feasibility: From a technical standpoint, while it's possible to modify a pager to trigger an explosion, a regular, unmodified pager does not possess the components necessary to cause an explosion.
Pagers operate on very low energy, typically using small batteries like AAA or similar, which are not capable of causing significant explosions even if they fail catastrophically.
Public Sentiment and Reports: X posts suggest skepticism about pagers exploding spontaneously.
Users on X have pointed out that pagers lack the energy storage or explosive materials to cause significant harm beyond perhaps overheating or causing a small fire from a battery malfunction.
Misconceptions and Modifications: There's a consensus among some commentators that for a pager to explode, it would need to be tampered with, possibly by adding an explosive charge or significantly modifying its internal components, which would move it far beyond the realm of a standard "stock pager."
Nature of Pager Failures: When pagers fail or their batteries malfunction, the most common outcomes are overheating, small fires, or smoke, not explosions.
The energy potential in a pager's battery is too low to cause an explosion of the kind that would be considered dangerous beyond perhaps causing minor burns or damage to the device itself.
No Records of Explosions: There aren't any records or widely reported incidents where a stock pager has exploded in the manner that might be imagined, like a bomb.
Reports of pagers overheating or catching fire are more aligned with what's physically possible given their design and power source.
Given this, while it's theoretically possible to engineer a pager to explode through significant modifications, there's no evidence or records to suggest that a standard, unmodified stock pager can or has exploded on its own.
The narrative around pagers exploding seems to stem from either misunderstanding the capabilities of pager technology or from fictional or hypothetical scenarios where pagers are modified for such purposes.
UNLESS THEY WERE MODIFIED WITH EXPLOSIVES... THAT IS A DIFFERENT STORY.
USA: Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder: The United States is not involved in the explosions of communication devices in Lebanon
O.K. ,now no cell phones or any electronic devices allowed on any airliner at any time. Israel just shut down the planet. This is the black swan event.