Shut it off, bury it, put it in an iron chest and lock it up,” the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared in February, talking about the mobile phones belonging to members and their families.

Gaza The pagers from a recent shipment began overheating and their batteries were not lasting as expected. For Hezbollah, it was time for an investigation. For Israel, it was time to detonate them. The daring operation,

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously in parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people — including members of the militant group Hezbollah and a young girl.