Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts

Wow, I knew wireless technology had downsides, but this is really scary.

Via BBC …

—

It is hard to think of an attack more calculated to sow fear and confusion.

Hezbollah relies heavily on pagers for the group’s communications.

Mobile phones have long since been abandoned as simply too vulnerable - as Israel’s assassination of a Hamas bombmaker demonstrated as long ago as 1996.

But today’s attacks were terrifying in their scope.

Hezbollah members were blown up in supermarkets, on the street, in their cars, at home, next to their children.

Incidents were reported from all across Lebanon, from Beirut to the Bekaa Valley. Even from neighbouring Syria.

Each explosion may have been small, but some resulted in catastrophic injuries.

One particularly graphic image showed a lifeless young man slumped in a barber’s chair, his face bloodied.

—

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpw5rqzz5jjo

The blasts "killed nine people, including a girl"

They set off explosives in civilian areas.

How is this not terrorism?

It's like placing pipe bombs all over the city and setting them off to kill people.

Sigh... American and it's allies spreading democracy again.

BanthuToday  07:07 am JST

The blasts "killed nine people, including a girl"

They set off explosives in civilian areas.

How is this not terrorism?

It's like placing pipe bombs all over the city and setting them off to kill people.

Sigh... American and it's allies spreading democracy again.

I'm sure someone will investigate that as soon as they finish investigating every single missile and abduction done by Hezbollah for no gd reason.

How is this not terrorism?

Because they were very small targeted explosions designed to hurt the enemy combatant school was in possession of it.

It's like placing pipe bombs all over the city and setting them off to kill people.

No it isn't - what an absurd analogy.

Sigh... American and it's allies spreading democracy again.

The USA appears to have been unaware.

American and it's allies spreading democracy again.

Uh Banthu@, I don't think the US deserves credit for this one.

In neighboring Syria, 14 people were wounded "after pagers used by Hezbollah exploded", said a Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It's Mr. Rahman yet again, the western state/corporate media's favourite Mi6 cutout.

The grand-sounding Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is in fact a one man blog run from his kitchen by Mr. Rahman, whose day job is managing a clothes shop in Coventry with his wife.

How does a clothes shop owner in Coventry source such detailed information and why is he endlessly quoted in the Western media as the go-to expert on Syria? The obvious answer is obvious: he's an Mi6 cutout funded by the British Government.

https://thegrayzone.com/2018/06/06/syrian-observatory-for-human-rights-funding-sohr-uk-government/

The US taxpayer-funded genocidal Zionist regime in Tel Aviv is desperate to provoke a full scale war in Lebanon as the walls slowly begin to close in and its economy collapses.

This is quite a fiendishly brilliant move by Mossad. They have somehow intercepted the supply of pagers going to Hezbollah, having found out that they were trying to buy them. They have inserted the explosives and a remote detonator, and shipped them to Lebanon where they have been distributed among active members.

Whatever you stand on the Arab Israeli conflict, it is quite remarkable - they have taken out thousands of combatants simultaneously with almost no harm to civilians. And in so doing, removed a wireless communication option from their enemy.

They set off explosives in civilian areas.

Embedding themselves in civilian areas, including elementary schools and hospitals, is their strategy. It's not like they head to open and empty ground to take on the Israelis, (which the Israelis would definitely prefer).

I guess the terrorist who dreamed up the idea of using pagers, believing it to be ingenious, is eating crow right now. LOL.

right out of a movie script.

Whether you agree with it or not you have to hand it to the Mossad.

They make James Bond look like Austin Powers

Those blaming Israel, do you have actual evidence to do so, if not why not blame another- perhaps rival - Moslem group, or will your reasoning be similar to what I heard from Arabs while living in Dubai, which was that 9/11 had to be Israel that did it because Saudis are not clever enough to have been involved in that. Then the evidence came out... But I know that true believing extremists are going to believe blindly and reinforce their blind beliefs with an array of alternative facts which are cherry-picked, often using just a bit of the peel of a single cherry and then connected to theories only they believe. It's cherry peels all the way down for most extremists.

Non Hezbollah members have no reason to have a Hezbollah pager now do they?

boom boom boom shake the room tick tick tick tick boom.

They set off explosives in civilian areas. How is this not terrorism?

1) why is a little girl with militants

2) terrorism, fight fire with fire. I love how the terrorists suddenly play the victim card when someone gives them some of their own medicine

In theory its a decent plan. Use small explosives to target all enemy militants in on go.

In practice it is a terror attack. There is no way they could know who was in possession of these devices at the time of the explosion. Im sure many Hezbollah were injured, but this was an indiscriminate attack. Nothing new from Israel there.

I will have every reason to believe that Israel has drifted further towards rogue and terror, but facts stops me from doing so.

Anyone who has access to the pager supply chain would benefit much more by using the access to spy, and subvert operation.

On the other hand a 3rd party who wants to test, and need a ready scapegoat would gain a lot from an operation like this.

Little bomb narrative is full of holes also, not least because of easy detection (sniffer dogs), discovery during repair, and maintenance of base unit, change of networks etc.

It was a bizarre attack—a massive blow to their communication system.

Embedding themselves in civilian areas, including elementary schools and hospitals, is their strategy.

You realise these people have normal lives just like those in any armed forces. They have homes and families to go back to just like you or I.

In practice it is a terror attack. There is no way they could know who was in possession of these devices at the time of the explosion.

Doctors and other medical workers use pagers in Lebanon. The US tax payer-funded genocidal entity has destroyed every hospital in Gaza. It's what they do....

"It's not currently clear exactly how the explosions happened. Two main theories are being bandied about by security experts. Some believe Israel, through its shadow Mossad intelligence agency, managed to send out a mass cyberattack that overheated the lithium ion batteries of the pagers. "

"Others believe Mossad was able to slip into Hezbollah's supply chain, sneaking explosive material into the pagers as they were manufactured, which would later be triggered by a mass message to the devices. "

I guess the terrorist who dreamed up the idea of using pagers, believing it to be ingenious, is eating crow right now. LOL.

The Israelis were able to sneak explosives into the building materials used to build the Natanz centrifuge hall and detonate them in 2020.

https://www.thejc.com/news/world/exclusive-mossad-recruited-top-iranian-scientists-to-blow-up-key-nuclear-facility-vm9er28y

This is an act of terrorism pure and simple!

Not targeted in respect to they blew these devices up in civilian areas

If it had of been Hezbollah doing this to Israelis the western media would have been baying for terrorists blood. Because it's Israel though all good!

The hypocrisy is not unnoticeable!

JeffLeeToday  07:28 am JST

I guess the terrorist who dreamed up the idea of using pagers, believing it to be ingenious, is eating crow right now. LOL.

It's not a bad idea but maybe don't accept the free pagers from Mossad Inc.

Brilliant work by whoever who’s done that

sorry for the uninvolved who were affected but I guess it couldn’t be more clinical than that

Damn! I'll never look at my smartphone the same way again.

Someone was stating just the other day that "Hezbollah is far more advanced than Israel" and that they would "easily defeat Israel in a war".

The reality is they cannot even vet their own communication devices for explosives.

This is an act of terrorism pure and simple!

...actually it's much worse, it's a war crime, if it can be proven it was carried by a state. Don't forget pagers are used by doctors, teachers, and even taxi drivers...

At the same time, to me at least, it doesn't look like Israel or IDF (but I'm not ruling out the hardliners Lehava), because historically the IDF (Shin Bet) has been meticulous in target id and execution. The assassination of 'the engineer' a Hamas bomb maker was done using a mobile phone, with meticulous checks and balances to make sure he was using the phone at the time of detonation etc.,

As for Lehavas, I also find it difficult to believe that they have infiltrated Iran because the IDF don't trust them and would never work with them, and almost ALL of Hamas supply comes via Iran.

No problem in that locally limited war zone far over there, but are the many devices that permanently surround us or that we all possess are infected too with potentially exploding hidden loads? And if still not, will they be soon too? Maybe I should book a dummy flight, bring in all my little digital pets and let them have checked there at the luggage control. But then still is the question if they inform me when finding something or let me or someone else intentionally aboard without telling about explosives. In sum, it looks like globally a new Pandora box just has been opened.

we are slowly but surely edging toward a regional conflict

It's not a matter of if but when.

Overheating the batteries would not have caused the explosions.

...actually it's much worse, it's a war crime, if it can be proven it was carried by a state. Don't forget pagers are used by doctors, teachers, and even taxi drivers...

If the pagers were targeted to specific enemy combatants and their leadership then there is no war crime. It would only be a crime if everyone's pager was rigged with explosives. That does not appear to be the case in this instance.

we are slowly but surely edging toward a regional conflict

It has been a regional conflict for a while now, I would argue at least from the start of the Arab Springs. The only question is, is it escalating or de-escalating. There was only one period of de-escalation during all this time, when Trump came to power and strangled Iran with sanctions.

But of course, a lot of people don't like that, they never liked the fact Saudi A and Israel normalised relations, Russia reduced involvement...and China was too busy dealing with Trump to stick their head into the region.

Not a Trump fan, just a fact.

Overheating the batteries would not have caused the explosions.

They could. It has happened where I work, a cell phone or GPS unit left in a hot car exploded and did significant damage, but 2,800 pagers wouldn't have overheated at once.

It has been a regional conflict for a while now, I would argue at least from the start of the Arab Springs. The only question is, is it escalating or de-escalating. 

I would argue it is escalating. That's what I think

It has been a regional conflict for a while now, I would argue at least from the start of the Arab Springs. The only question is, is it escalating or de-escalating. There was only one period of de-escalation during all this time, when Trump came to power and strangled Iran with sanctions.

There was no de-escalation. There was constant fighting in Gaza and the West Bank. There was a so-called peace proposal where the Palestinians would be granted limited autonomy, not statehood, if they agreed to Israel annexing settlements in the West Bank. That was an obvious non-starter and rightfully rejected by the Palestinians.

From March 30, 2018 – Dec. 27, 2019 Palestinians in Gaza begin a protest movement along the fence with Israel, calling for Israel to end its blockade and in support of their claims to return to ancestral homes in Israel. Some of the demonstrations, which are held each Friday until Dec. 27, 2019, become violent, with attempts to rush the fence, sparking clashes with Israeli forces. Israel says Hamas is exploiting the rallies for its own aims. Over 200 Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces during these demonstrations.

Some de-escalation,

An argument can be made that the Abraham Accords backed the Palestinians into the wall as Arab regimes recognized Israel and ignored their plight. You comment also ignores the outrages of far right Israeli pollies and their settler supporters invading Al Aqsa Mosque and basically defiling it.

Some de-escalation

is better than what we have now.

There was no de-escalation. There was constant fighting in Gaza and the West Bank.

You need to go back a couple of posts, starting with Aly Rustom's. He said 'regional conflict'.

The facts show, it has escalated, widened and intensified, except for a small period of time when Trump came to power. John Meirsheimer summarised it when interviewed on Bloomberg a while ago.

You might argue it's meaningless, and does not progress political arguments, but for civilians it's a god send. We could do with some of that in Ukraine as well no matter what you think of Blinken (and I know your views from all the past posts).

From the internet:

The New York Times, citing US officials, says the pagers were tampered with before they reached Lebanon. The small amounts of explosive material were implanted next to the battery in each pager, and a switch was embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives," officials claim.

The death count from the explosions currently stands at 11, with more than 2700 injured. Among the wounded, roughly 400 are reported to be in a critical condition.

The New York Times, citing US officials,

but did they cite whether the US officials speculated or have they actually examined the crime scene and lab tested explosive residue etc.?

Had no idea this was even possible. Wow!

Glad I stopped using them back in '93.

The facts show, it has escalated, widened and intensified, except for a small period of time when Trump came to power. John Meirsheimer summarised it when interviewed on Bloomberg a while ago.

No. Anyone paying attention could see tensions were escalating the entire time. The Houthis were shooting at US Navy destroyers during that period of time. Iran was attacking tankers in the Persian Gulf and North Arabian Sea and taking their crews hostage (some are still being held). US forces were fighting Iran backed militias in Iraq and helping the Saudis fight the Houthis.

eh? you don't mean 'heinous'?

?

Did you see the vid of one going off in a supermarket?

Yes!!!

?

it's a war crime to indiscriminately blowing up people in a supermarket, no?

@Sh1mon M4sada

"It's a war crime to indiscriminately blowing up people in a supermarket, no?"

Yes, I daresay the Israeli army has done that too, along with indiscriminately blowing up all the schools and hospitals.

Yes, I daresay the Israeli army has done that too, along with indiscriminately blowing up all the schools and hospitals.

meh...you're part of the problem that generated this ^ kind of narrative. If it was even remotely plausible, Hamas, Hezbollah etc. would have it in all the front pages. But the fact is, they were legitimate MILITARY targets, like the hospital that was a Hamas HQ. They are using human shield, not comparable to going shopping.

The madness continues. Cue reprisals.

If the pagers were targeted to specific enemy combatants and their leadership then there is no war crime. 

And what exactly is an 'enemy combatant'? This term was invented and used by the US government during the 'war on terror' but it has no recognised definition or relevance in the context of war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law.

CNBC is also running the IDF narrative now on TV. Still citing anon US officials LOL (despite the Pentagon already saying minutes earlier they don't know anything). At least there's photo of fragments of the pager, a Taiwanese Gold Apollo AR924, apparently ordered by Hamas but intercepted by IDF (LOL again)...which is interesting because Hamas is a listed terror group according Taiwan. So who's the 3rd party that the order went through?

All of Hamas supplies go through Iran, and that usually means China...or India.

High-tech terrorism dialed up to eleven has arrived. We have just woken up to a scary era when more than one can play this game.

it's a war crime to indiscriminately blowing up people in a supermarket, no?

Depends. It didn't appear indiscriminate. It appears to me specific enemy combatants and their leaders were targeted. Those are legitimate targets.

CNBC is also running the IDF narrative now on TV. Still citing anon US officials LOL (despite the Pentagon already saying minutes earlier they don't know anything). At least there's photo of fragments of the pager, a Taiwanese Gold Apollo AR924, apparently ordered by Hamas but intercepted by IDF (LOL again)...which is interesting because Hamas is a listed terror group according Taiwan. So who's the 3rd party that the order went through?

Probably the same MFs selling Toyota Hilux pick ups and Land Cruisers to IS ;?

These things get sold all over central Asia, places like Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, then get resold half a dozen times before Hezbollah ends up with them. How do you think Kadyrov got his Tesla Cybertruck?

What a sick people...

"Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts."

Interesting innovations, no more suicide best, you already have a pager in your pocket fool! . What's next your vehicle reporting to you " hang on right, I'm driving you over the cliff."

It didn't appear indiscriminate

That's the difference between you and I.

terrorist wanted a fight and they got it

Kill or be killed !

Taiwanese Gold Apollo AR924

Taiwanese Gold Apollo owner clarified to Al Jazeera that the company doesn't make this pager. It licensed it to a company in Europe who makes and sell it now.

How did MOSSAD intercept more than 3,000 pagers and fit them with explosives and a trigger?

Of course, the terrorists are worse. And this tactic is like mafia families having a street war.

it's a war crime to indiscriminately blowing up people in a supermarket, no?

It is?

How did MOSSAD intercept more than 3,000 pagers and fit them with explosives and a trigger?

That is why they are the absolute best. Give them credit now.

I think the What a sick people...

Hezbollah, I agree!

The Israelis have a strange way of getting along with their neighbors. They have become more hated by more people than ever. There'll soon be more than pagers exploding in the pockets of Hizbollah. The Israelis with a little help from their meddlesome friends have made a time-bomb out of the Middle East. Just don't call the blowback "anti-semitism".

Doctors and other medical workers use pagers in Lebanon.

its not ANY pager - its pagers bought by terrorists for terrorists.

According to reports MOSSAD rigged 5,000 pagers. There must still be some out there.

According to reports MOSSAD rigged 5,000 pagers. There must still be some out there.

Remind me never to get on their bad side

How did MOSSAD intercept more than 3,000 pagers and fit them with explosives and a trigger?

That is why they are the absolute best. Give them credit now.

If Mossad were "the absolute best" then they would have thwarted the 7 October 2023 coordinated attacks on Israeli citizens on her own soil. That was an incredible failure that Israeli citizens paid dearly for.

No, Mossad and the IDF intelligence are far from "the best". Bizarre claim that they are.

MOSSAD/Netanyahu was warned about an attack around Oct 7. Massive security failure.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-netanyahu-was-warned-4-times-in-2023-about-how-enemies-saw-internal-discord/

This is terrorism.

It is?

Sure is...

https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/indiscriminate-attacks

According to reports

...but reports out of the middle east are unreliable mostly. Like the killing of the IRGC head, which reports originally said was an autonmous robot truck (LOL).

Sh1mon M4sadaToday 09:16 am JST

There was only one period of de-escalation during all this time, when Trump came to power and strangled Iran with sanctions.

The same sanctions continued by Biden or the increased Iranian trade with China due to the fool withdrawal from the JCPOA?