Dozens of Hezbollah members wounded in Lebanon following mass pager explosion

[Claira]

Dozens of members of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah were seriously wounded on Tuesday in Lebanon's south and the southern suburbs of Beirut when the pagers they use to communicate exploded, security sources told Reuters.

A Reuters journalist saw 10 Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds in the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh.

A senior Lebanese security source told Al-Hadath that Israel infiltrated the communication system of individual devices and detonated them.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-820536

Did Israel retaliate against Hezbollah for attempted assassination of ex-defense chief?
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-820540

 

Edited September 17 by Claira
Changed title, added news article.

[Claira]

Videos circulating on social media purport to show the moment that pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded in Lebanon.

According to Lebanese media, dozens were injured after Israel allegedly hacked the devices and detonated them.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/clips-show-moment-hezbollah-communication-devices-exploded-in-beirut/

[Buzz_Light_Year]

Overload the battery? Or were the pagers designed to do this and Israel made them available to the Hezbollah?

[Claira]

A couple of articles about Hezbollah's attempt to kill a former Israeli defense official in Tel Aviv and how Shin Bet thwarted their plan.

Israel says it thwarted Hezbollah plot to kill former defense official
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-820526

Shin Bet says it foiled Hezbollah attempt to kill former top Israeli security official
https://www.timesofisrael.com/shin-bet-says-it-foiled-hezbollah-attempt-to-kill-former-top-israeli-security-official/

 

[Claira]

2 minutes ago, Buzz_Light_Year said:

Overload the battery? Or were the pagers designed to do this and Israel made them available to the Hezbollah?

I have no idea how it was done. All I've read thus far is that we (allegedly) hacked into their communications devices somehow causing them to explode (perhaps by causing a thermal runway, I don't know). Lebanese media is saying some 1,000 were wounded (5 critically), no deaths. Netanyahu's office is distancing itself from what happened, but to be honest, the incident has Shin Bet and/or Mossad written all over it.

[Claira]

We now know that the communication devices that exploded were the latest model, brought in by the terror group in recent months. Apparently, some Hezbollah members began to feel their pagers heating up and tossed them just before the blasts occurred. A Hezbollah official is speculating that the devices may have heated up and detonated due to malware.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-some-hezbollah-members-felt-their-pagers-heating-up-tossed-them-away-before-blasts/

 

[+OverSword]

Cheap Chinese crap 

[Claira]

Hezbollah issues its first statement after the coordinated detonation of hundreds of pagers used by its members — in which over 1,000 were reportedly injured — saying two men and a girl have been killed.

The terror group says it’s carrying out a wide-ranging investigation into the attack, and notably does not point the finger at Israel.

It calls on people to be aware of “rumors and false and misleading information” that could serve the “psychological warfare” conducted by the “Zionist enemy,” in light of Israel’s threats to launch a large-scale offensive in southern Lebanon.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/in-1st-statement-hezbollah-says-its-probing-pager-blasts-that-killed-3-doesnt-blame-israel/

 

 

[Claira]

According to Lebanon’s health minister, eight were killed and some 2,800 were wounded, including 200 seriously, in the pager blasts.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/lebanese-minister-8-killed-2800-injured-in-pager-blast-attack/

 

[Setton]

Remind me, pro-Israel posters, how Israel always takes all possible precautions to avoid civilian casualties?

Because detonating thousands of devices in civilian locations just screams proportionality.

If an islamic country or group did this, you'd all be screaming terrorism but of course Israel gets a free pass.

I've said it before and I'll keep doing so - war criminals and terrorists.

[acidhead]

5 minutes ago, Setton said:

Remind me, pro-Israel posters, how Israel always takes all possible precautions to avoid civilian casualties?

Because detonating thousands of devices in civilian locations just screams proportionality.

If an islamic country or group did this, you'd all be screaming terrorism but of course Israel gets a free pass.

I've said it before and I'll keep doing so - war criminals and terrorists.

Yes, I don't see how this can be celebrated as a great military tactic when it's straight up terrorism.  

[+and-then]

23 minutes ago, acidhead said:

Yes, I don't see how this can be celebrated as a great military tactic when it's straight up terrorism.  

Perhaps Hizbullah and Hamas should have left Israelis alone?  The one thing all of these deaths have in common is the fact that NONE of them were happening before 10/7.  As "terrorism" goes, I'd say shooting random people dead on the streets, burning families alive in their homes and decapitating people should be of a bit more concern than causing some limited burns and scarring.  The death toll has just risen to 9.  

[Setton]

23 minutes ago, and-then said:

Perhaps Hizbullah and Hamas should have left Israelis alone?  The one thing all of these deaths have in common is the fact that NONE of them were happening before 10/7.  As "terrorism" goes, I'd say shooting random people dead on the streets, burning families alive in their homes and decapitating people should be of a bit more concern than causing some limited burns and scarring.  The death toll has just risen to 9.  

Terrorism is terrorism. There's no 'degrees' of terrorism. No excuses for terrorism. Your logic here is exactly the same as those who say Hamas wouldn't exist if Israel hadn't stolen their land.

[Claira]

Pager explosions hint at shift in strategy against Hezbollah — If indeed Israel was behind the innovative attack, and even before it becomes clear whether this is a prelude to a much bigger Israeli military action -- this sowed chaos inside Hezbollah, neutralized hundreds of their fighters for at least several days if not longer, and created disarray regarding the organization’s ability to communicate --  it does demonstrate several factors.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-820574

The article also makes mention of Defense Minister Gallant's statement from a few months ago, where he said that Israel has new capabilities that will surprise Hezbollah. This comment was lost among endless other “we-will-send-Lebanon-back-to-the-stone-age” threats he has issued but it now looks like he wasn't kidding.

[Claira]

Hezbollah is known as a disciplined group. Highly trained, the group invests heavily in its recruits. It is not known to waste them as cannon fodder. It views itself as an elite organization, and within its own structure, there are centers of terrorist excellence, such as the Radwan force.

Hezbollah has achieved this through decades of fine-tuning its capabilities. It has built itself up slowly, first in the 1980s and then in the last two decades as it came to dominate Lebanon. Now, the group faces its worst nightmare: Chaos.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-820559

 

[+Razman]

Well there's a new one, mass pager attack.

Edited September 17 by Razman

[itsnotoutthere]

And in a news update British prime Minister Kier Starmer has blamed a 66 year old woman from Newcastle.... 

Edited September 17 by itsnotoutthere

[+OverSword]

3 hours ago, Setton said:

Remind me, pro-Israel posters, how Israel always takes all possible precautions to avoid civilian casualties?

Because detonating thousands of devices in civilian locations just screams proportionality.

If an islamic country or group did this, you'd all be screaming terrorism but of course Israel gets a free pass.

I've said it before and I'll keep doing so - war criminals and terrorists.

 

3 hours ago, acidhead said:

Yes, I don't see how this can be celebrated as a great military tactic when it's straight up terrorism.  

Cry me a river.  Watch the video of one exploding and it's pretty obvious the only people that are going to get seriously injured are those with them in their pockets.  That would be members of a proxy terror organization of Iran's.  Any BS stories about children getting killed by these are just that, BS stories.

[+OverSword]

2 hours ago, Setton said:

Terrorism is terrorism. There's no 'degrees' of terrorism. No excuses for terrorism. Your logic here is exactly the same as those who say Hamas wouldn't exist if Israel hadn't stolen their land.

Was it terrorism when Obama took out terrorist with drone strikes in 3rd party countries?  I don't recall you complaining about Barak Obama killing terrorists.

[Gromdor]

This does kind of make me wonder about the future of terrorism.  Imagine a hacker suddenly making everyones cellphone explode or start to emit sounds that are damaging to the human body.  Or even just plain start fires.  

[Cho Jinn]

53 minutes ago, OverSword said:

Was it terrorism when Obama took out terrorist with drone strikes in 3rd party countries?  I don't recall you complaining about Barak Obama killing terrorists.

That was different!

[Cho Jinn]

12 minutes ago, Gromdor said:

This does kind of make me wonder about the future of terrorism.  Imagine a hacker suddenly making everyones cellphone explode or start to emit sounds that are damaging to the human body.  Or even just plain start fires.  

Yeah, very interesting but the capability doesn’t bode well for future peace.  Looks like we’ll have to go back to NiCAD batteries!

[Gromdor]

6 minutes ago, Cho Jinn said:

Yeah, very interesting but the capability doesn’t bode well for future peace.  Looks like we’ll have to go back to NiCAD batteries!

NiCad batteries can emit toxic gases and explode too.  Handled quite a few of them during my Airforce days.

[Claira]

1 hour ago, OverSword said:

Cry me a river.  Watch the video of one exploding and it's pretty obvious the only people that are going to get seriously injured are those with them in their pockets.  That would be members of a proxy terror organization of Iran's.  Any BS stories about children getting killed by these are just that, BS stories.

It's my understanding that most of the men who were killed or injured were Hezbollah members. There's a report, unfortunately, of an eight year-old girl, the daughter of a Hezbollah member, who was killed when her father's pager exploded in their home. I'm not aware of any other children injured by the blasts.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

4 hours ago, Setton said:

Remind me, pro-Israel posters, how Israel always takes all possible precautions to avoid civilian casualties?

Because detonating thousands of devices in civilian locations just screams proportionality.

If an islamic country or group did this, you'd all be screaming terrorism but of course Israel gets a free pass.

I've said it before and I'll keep doing so - war criminals and terrorists.

Remind me, anti-Israel posters, where the Israelis ever admitted to remotely exploding pagers.