Zeinab Mistrah says a pager she was not carrying exploded near her in September 2024, leaving her with permanent injuries to her eyes and hand. Two years later, her account brings renewed attention to the civilians harmed by an Israeli operation intended to disrupt Hezbollah’s communications
INR Report: Based on reporting by RT correspondent Steve Sweeney for RT HERE
A Life Changed by an Explosion
Zeinab Mistrah was preparing for marriage and had studied interior design when a pager exploded near her in Lebanon on 17 September 2024.
In an interview with RT correspondent Steve Sweeney published on 19 September 2026, Mistrah said she had not been carrying the device. The explosion cost her left eye, left her with approximately 10 percent vision in her right eye and severed the tips of three fingers on her right hand.
“I’ve actually forgotten how a normal person sees things,” she told RT. “I simply view the world this way now.”
Mistrah described how her injuries have changed ordinary activities and her ability to live independently. Her account is an individual testimony rather than a comprehensive record of the operation, but it illustrates a central issue in the attacks: the consequences extended beyond the people carrying the devices.
She also told RT that she was injured again more than a year later, while three-and-a-half months pregnant, when an Israeli missile struck the building in which she was sleeping. According to her account, the strike targeted someone below her apartment and caused a serious back injury.
The circumstances of that later strike have not been independently established by the material available for this report. Her account nevertheless describes the cumulative effects that repeated hostilities can have on an individual civilian.
What Happened in September 2024?
On 17 September 2024, pagers used by members and employees of Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon and parts of Syria. A second wave of explosions involving handheld radios followed on 18 September.
The devices had been modified to contain explosives before reaching their users. Contemporary Reuters reporting cited security sources who said explosives had been planted in pagers ordered by Hezbollah.
The operation was directed at a communications network used by Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed and political organisation that had been exchanging fire with Israel across the border since October 2023.
Its effects, however, were not confined to armed personnel or military locations. Devices exploded in homes, shops and other civilian settings, injuring people who were nearby.
Amnesty International reported that the two days of explosions killed at least 37 people and injured more than 2,900, including civilians. Those figures reflected information available in September 2024 and should not be treated as a final accounting of every subsequent death or injury.
Israel subsequently acknowledged responsibility for the operation. The fact that Hezbollah personnel were among the intended targets does not resolve whether the method of attack complied with international law.
The Question of Civilian Protection
The legal issue is not simply whether an armed group was being targeted. It is whether those carrying out the operation could distinguish between military targets and civilians, including people standing close to the devices when they detonated.
On 18 September 2024, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that simultaneously targeting thousands of people without knowing who possessed the devices, where they were or who was nearby violated international human rights law and, where applicable, international humanitarian law. He called for an independent and transparent investigation.
Human Rights Watch raised concerns about the prohibition on certain booby traps and the risk of indiscriminate attacks. Amnesty International called for an international investigation, arguing that the planners could not reliably establish who would be holding or standing near the devices at the moment of detonation.
Those assessments identify serious legal concerns. They do not replace a judicial determination of individual criminal responsibility.
Mistrah’s testimony gives those concerns a specific human dimension. According to her account, she was not the person carrying the pager, yet she sustained injuries that continue to shape her life two years later.
The Wider Conflict Has Not Ended
The pager and radio explosions occurred during an escalating confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah. Later in September 2024, Israel intensified its military campaign in Lebanon, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike and subsequently sending ground forces into southern Lebanon.
The conflict has continued to affect civilians on both sides of the border.
RT reports that renewed fighting in 2026 followed Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel after the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The outlet says a US-brokered ceasefire in June largely halted hostilities, although Israeli strikes and military activity continued in southern Lebanon.
Recent Reuters reporting from southern Lebanon describes continuing insecurity, displacement and uncertainty over the planned withdrawal of UN peacekeepers. Residents face concerns about access to essential supplies and the absence of an effective security arrangement once the UN mission ends.
The September 2024 operation is therefore not only a historical episode. Survivors are living with its consequences while the wider conflict remains unresolved.
Does This Affect New Zealand?
New Zealand is geographically distant from Lebanon, but the operation raises questions relevant to the country's approach to international humanitarian law, civilian protection and security technology.
New Zealand's interest in the laws of armed conflict does not depend on which state or armed group is involved. The principles of distinction and civilian protection apply to all parties. The same standards must be considered when assessing attacks involving conventional weapons, covert operations or electronic devices modified to become explosives.
The pager operation also demonstrates a security risk associated with compromised communications equipment. Devices that appear to be ordinary commercial products can be altered before reaching their intended users. For New Zealand, the relevant lesson is the importance of trusted procurement, supply-chain assurance and security testing for equipment used in sensitive government, defence and emergency communications.
That does not establish that New Zealand faces a comparable plot. It identifies a class of vulnerability illustrated by the Lebanon operation.
There is also a diplomatic question. When states assess attacks on civilians, the evidence and applicable legal standards should remain consistent regardless of the identity of the party responsible. The concerns raised by the United Nations and human rights organisations warrant examination on their merits, while allegations of individual criminal responsibility require an appropriate investigative and legal process.
Mistrah's experience shows why those distinctions matter. An operation designed to disrupt an armed organisation's communications can also permanently alter the life of a person who was never carrying the targeted device.
Watch the Original Report
Watch Steve Sweeney’s report and interview with Zeinab Mistrah below or direct on RT.
Sources
Independent reporting. Original context. Credited sources.