Pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria Tuesday, killing at least 12 people.

Lithium-ion batteries can catch fire or explode, but in the attack on pagers in Lebanon, the devices are more likely to have been hacked.

Two series of coordinated attacks targeting the group’s wireless devices caused thousands of injuries, piercing the group’s rank and file and raising questions about how it will respond.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers ordered by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.

Lebanon's Hezbollah was bracing for the risk of Israeli military escalation when its old foe struck a blow it hadn't seen coming, plunging the Iran-backed group into hours of unprecedented disarray, sources familiar with Hezbollah operations say.

If we assume, as virtually all observers do, that Israel was behind Tuesday's astonishing mass pager attack on the ranks of Hezbollah, what does it tell us about what Israel is thinking? In the absence of any official Israeli comment,

Exploding pagers killed at least 11 people in Lebanon on Tuesday, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounded about 2,800 others, health officials said. Hezbollah said it was the target of the attack and eight of its fighters were among the dead.