Why is Hezbollah still using old-tech pagers instead of cellphones?

More than 4,000 people were injured and at least 11, including a child, died on Tuesday as a result of the mass detonation of pagers in different parts of Lebanon, according to the country's health minister, Firass Abiad.

The Lebanese government and Hezbollah movement blamed the explosions on Israel.

Why is Hezbollah using pagers?

A pager is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays messages. It was among the first compact mobile communication devices to reach the mass market, and although smartphones have largely supplanted it, some people still use this technology today.

The pagers use their own frequency and are therefore considered more reliable because they bypass cellular networks, which can experience interruptions, connection problems or interception of communications.

Makram Rabah, a lecturer in the history department at the American University of Beirut, told DW that he believes Hezbollah has purchased a large number of pagers because its landline network and even mobile phone operators have recently been hacked by Israel, which has driven them to a more low-tech fashion.

"By doing so they have been exposed to a new type of danger. And what happened today is proof of that," he said.

Analysts speculate that a Hezbollah supply chain has been infiltrated to cause the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of Hezbollah pagers. A source close to Hezbollah told the AFP news agency that "the pagers that exploded concern a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah of 1,000 devices," which appear to have been "sabotaged at source."

Meanwhile, Taiwan-based company Gold Apollo said it did not make the pagers involved in the blasts.

This comes after a New York Times report suggested the pagers had been supplied by Gold Apollo and shipped to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

(Inputs from DW)