Israel has added a new chapter to its own history of terrorist attacks against the enemies. The latest massive act of violence has engaged state-of-the-art IT solutions against members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah group. It goes without saying even as we speak that what the Israelis have undertaken is a complex, pre-arranged hackivist thing.
On September 17 afternoon, Lebanese pagers signaled an incoming message allegedly from the Hezbollah leadership. After that, the devices exploded. Lebanon's Health Minister said the attack killed at least 11 people, leaving over 2,700 injured. Some 400 survivors reportedly remain in critical condition. Among the wounded is Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon.
So far, the Israelis have been tight-lipped on the issue. But a telling thing is that the American New York Times has preferred not to dance around and blamed Israel for masterminding the attack. Given that the United States is Israel's closest and staunch ally, one may safely assume that Tel Aviv has used a mainstream US outlet to let the whole world, particularly Iran and Hezbollah associated with it, know who is the one behind it.
Citing "American and other officials briefed on the operation," The New York Times points out that "Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon." According to "some of the officials," the pagers ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan "had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon."
What does "tampered with" mean? With reference to some fly-by-night "officials", the NYT cynically explains that an explosive substance weighing as little as 30-60 grams “was implanted next to the battery in each pager.” There was also a built-in switch that could be activated remotely to detonate the explosives. And "three officials" said the devices were “programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding.”
"The American and other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the operation," The New York Times emphasizes. This kind of accurate information about the method of mining pagers, or about the entire operation and its facilitator in general, as provided by the NYT piece, attest to the fact that the Americans may have been aware of relevant preparations. One cannot help but take heed that the act’s aim has been to annihilate most of Hezbollah in a single go, so to speak. By sheer luck did the 2,700 injured people stay alive after all.
The Hezbollah grouping has accused Israel of mounting the terrorist attack in a statement with no fundamental details — which does makes sense — so as not to spill the guts to Israel. But the exact death toll released by the Lebanese authorities has nevertheless exposed the precise amount of Hezbollah members who were ready to take up arms if ordered to.
This latest Israeli act of violence in Lebanon has become a true milestone in "terrorist science". With numerous customs services unable to detect the mined devices entering Lebanon, there is plenty of room for terrorist attacks in the world, primarily as regards airborne transportation. The world is dying into a place utterly unsafe for ordinary people.
Just a reminder: the current terrorist attack in Lebanon followed a series of murders of "Israeli enemies" since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7, 2023. An Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital city’s southern suburbs on July 30 killed Hezbollah's top commander Fuad Shakir, whom Israel deemed as the right-hand man to the grouping’s leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah. And July 31 saw head of Palestinian HAMAS movement’s political bureau Ismail Haniyeh killed in an Israeli missile strike targeting his Iranian residence. Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for the assassination, by the way.
Russia views Tuesday's incident in Lebanon as "another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon, which has affected thousands of innocent people." "We believe that those behind this high-tech attack deliberately sought to incite an escalation and provoke a major war in the Middle East," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the matter.
