On Tuesday, dozens of people were killed when electronic pagers blew up. The next day walkie-talkies exploded. What was the goal of the attacks? William Christou reports

On Tuesday, William Christou, a journalist reporting from Beirut for the Guardian, began hearing about simultaneous explosions across the city. Then videos began to emerge of small blasts in shops, cars and people’s homes. The death toll began to rise. Then came the extraordinary reason: electronic pagers, used by members of Hezbollah to communicate, had blown up, wounding their owners and whoever was nearby.

Israel was blamed by its critics and supporters alike and questions multiplied: how could such an attack have been carried out, and why now? Israel and Hezbollah have been trading attacks over the Lebanese border since the beginning of the war on Gaza, but this operation took everyone by surprise. Then came more deadly explosions – this time walkie-talkies blew up.