Lebanon's Hezbollah was still handing its members new Gold Apollo branded pagers hours before thousands blew up this week, two security sources said, indicating the group was confident the devices were safe despite an ongoing sweep of electronic kit to identify threats.

Israel had a hand in the actual manufacturing of the pagers that exploded on Hezbollah operatives this week, an attack that was in planning for at least 15 years.

The deadly Hezbollah-pager explosions are causing mounting distrust, with some Lebanon residents abandoning their electronic devices.