Hezbollah pager explosions pose direct security threat to CIS nations - Russian FSB chief

He made this statement during a meeting of the Council of Heads of Security and Special Services of the CIS member states, as reported by the Russian service Interfax.

According to Bortnikov, the special operation of detonating the pagers of Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria demonstrated how portable electronics can be used "not only to destroy critical information infrastructure but also to orchestrate assassination attempts on government officials."

The FSB director labeled this a direct threat to the security of CIS countries.

Background

On September 17, hundreds of Hezbollah fighters were injured in Beirut and other Lebanese cities due to explosions of their pagers, which they used for communication.

At the time, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said that at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed in the explosions, and 2,750 were injured, 200 of them in serious condition.

The following day, explosions were reported in the southern regions of the country and in the southern suburbs of Beirut. According to Lebanese officials, by the evening of September 18, 14 people had been killed and approximately 450 others injured in the second wave of explosions.

At least one of the explosions occurred at the funeral of Hezbollah fighters who were killed in a pager detonation on September 17.

According to ABC, citing its own sources, Israel had been planning an operation to blow up pagers in Lebanon for at least 15 years. Some of the employees did not even know about the real purpose of the operation.