Coded messages. Landline phones. Pagers. Following the killing of senior commanders in targeted Israeli airstrikes, the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has been using some low-tech strategies to try to evade its foes sophisticated surveillance technology, informed sources told Reuters.

It has also been using its own tech drones to study and attack Israels intelligence-gathering capabilities in what Hezbollahs leader Hassan Nasrallah has described as a strategy ofblinding Israel.

The sides have been trading fire since October 8, one day after Hezbollahs ally in Gaza, Hamas, launched a deadly terror assault on Israel, slaughtering some 1,200 people, seizing 251 hostages and triggering an ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. While the fighting on Lebanons southern border has remained relatively contained, stepped-up attacks in recent weeks have intensified concern it could spiral into a full-scale war

Tens of thousands of people have fled both sides of the border. Ten civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, as well as 16 Israel Defense Forces soldiers and reservists. Hezbollah has named 364 members who have been killed by Israel, and 65 operatives from other terror groups have also been killed, as well as dozens of civilians.

Many of Hezbollahs casualties were killed while close to the border amid the near-daily hostilities, which have included launching rockets and explosive drones into northern Israel, but the terror group has also confirmed the deaths of more than 20 operatives including three top commanders, members of its elite Radwan special forces unit and intelligence operatives in targeted strikes away from the frontlines.

Israels electronic eavesdropping, including hacking into cell phones and computers, is also widely regarded as among the worlds most sophisticated. Hezbollah has learned from its losses and adapted its tactics in response, six sources familiar with the groups operations told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

Cellphones, which can be used to track a users location, have been banned from the battlefield in favour of more old-fashioned communication means, including pagers and couriers who deliver verbal messages in person, two of the sources said

Hezbollah has also been using a private, fixed-line telecommunications network dating back to the early 2000s, three sources said. In case conversations are overheard, code words are used for weapons and meeting sites, according to another source familiar with the groups logistics. These are updated nearly daily and delivered to units via couriers, the source said.

Security experts say some low-tech countermeasures can be quite effective against high-tech spying. One of the ways that former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden evaded capture for nearly a decade was by disconnecting from the internet and phone services, and using couriers instead.