Hezbollah Exploding Pagers

Hezbollah can't use normal telephones/smartphones/computers to communicate. They know that's just handing over their data to Israel. They use pagers. Pagers work on a broadcast system, so the location of the pager is not communicated back to the cell tower like with a smartphone. For security reasons, you also usually switch pagers and numbers every few months.

A bunch of Hezbollah pagers exploded today. Most of the injuries/casualties were to Hezbollah members, but a few were women and children, presumably family members of a Hezbollah soldier who answered his pager for him.

People believe that Hezbollah made a bulk order/shipment of pagers. Unfortunately for Hezbollah, the shipment was intercepted by Israel/Mossad. Explosives were planted in the pagers, along with a software code to detonate, presumably when a specific text was received. It's unknown if it also contained a bug that recorded and reported conversations.

A normal pager battery doesn't have enough energy to produce that type of explosion. It had to be military-grade explosives. It was incredibly successful, with the target-to-civilian casualty ratio extremely high. There were videos of explosions where the target was injured but a bystander standing next to them was uninjured. The explosion either was in someone's pocket ripping out their insides, or in their hands exploding off their fingers and face. Crippling someone can actually be better than killing them, because now you have a useless mouth to feed, someone who can't fight or work.

Apparently Iran's diplomats in Lebanon had Hezbollah pagers, and were also injured.

now you have a useless mouth to feed, someone who can't fight or work.

Hey, I represent that.

This is why you should only buy mobile devices one at a time from shady Ebay sellers. j/k

When I read about this I thought it was the dreaded lithium battery meltdown being induced in these devices by some remote code hack. Lithium batteries would generate a lot of heat and flames but they would take some time to catch fire and would probably get really hot and bulge before catching fire. So it has to be explosives.

That's pretty much what drug dealers in the USA do. Buy burner phones one at a time from random sources, paying cash. It's harder when you have a network of thousands of people who need a pager. I bet the seller even gave them a "good deal" on the pagers, and the seller has vanished without a trace.

...and that centralization and single source killed and maimed a lot of "War" fighters.

Pretty brilliant gambit by the Israelis IMO. Remote controlled warfare.

Hezbollah had a backup system to their pagers, a system of walkie-talkie radios. Unfortunately, Israel/Mossad also intercepted their shipment of those, and blew them up today, killing and injuring people who were attending the funerals of Hezbollah members killed yesterday.

This would be the perfect time for Israel to invade Lebanon, when a huge chunk of Hezbollah leadership is incapacitated and they have no means of communication.

It's also funny that some people are suggesting that Israel did something wrong, with their super targeted strike of Hezbollah leadership. In war, the whole point is to kill people on the other team before they kill you. Israel is fighting with a further handicap that they're expected to minimize non-combatant casualties while their enemies have no such obligation.

This would be the perfect time for Israel to invade Lebanon, when a huge chunk of Hezbollah leadership is incapacitated and they have no means of communication.

Brilliant observation. I'd expect that next. The media is treating this like a show of force and it is that. But it seems that the device attack creates an enormous temporary advantage for Israel.

The device exploder seems very humane by the standards of warfare - killing the highest value commanders and decision makers, and pretty much sparing most grunts and most of the general population.

The only unfortunate bit is that sometimes a family member of the Hezbolla soldier was killed, because they answered their pager for them. That's unavoidable, and still less civilian casualties than blowing up a building.

Israel can't defeat Hezbollah without invading Lebanon. That's the same reason they couldn't eliminate Hamas without invading Gaza.

Lebanon is doing the "have your cake and eat it too" regarding war with Israel. Officially, Lebanon is not at war with Israel. However, Lebanon's government is unwilling and unable to contain Hezbollah. Any politician in Lebanon who said anything negative about Hezbollah would get himself and his family killed real quick.

Hezbollah is the de facto government of Lebanon, whether the formal leadership acknowledges it or not. That's why it's fair game for Israel to invade Lebanon. There was a previous treaty that called for a UN buffer zone in southern Lebanon, but that didn't work. Israel probably has to occupy and annex a chunk of Lebanon. The status quo is unacceptable, where northern Israel is uninhabitable due to Hezbolla attacks. The Iron Dome works against missiles, but it doesn't work against mortar attacks. Hezbollah is close enough to Israel that they can attack with mortar, which is why Israel needs to occupy a buffer zone.

Egypt also has a "peace but not really" deal with Israel. The formal leadership of Egypt claims to be at peace with Israel, but there were smuggling tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt. That's why there was so much outrage about Israel seizing control of the border, the "Philadelphi corridor". Israel cut all the smuggling tunnel supply lines. That's also why it's probably safe to move attention from Gaza to Hezbollah. Hamas can't resupply its weapons anymore and is much less of an imminent threat.

The Hezbollah exploding pagers and walkie-talkies was an absolutely brilliant move by Israel. Injure them and destroy their communication network. Its always unfortunate when innocent people die because of that but like you said, its better than blowing up buildings. Hezbollah invited this attack on themselves and Lebanon.

What a tangled web it is over there, but the real enemy is Iran who funds Hezbollah and Hamas. I remember reading about the smuggling tunnels connecting Egypt to Gaza. How convenient for Iran.

RSS Feed of thread

P.A.G.A.N. - People Against Goodness And Normalcy

Hezbollah Exploding Pagers (Public Board)

Hezbollah Exploding Pagers

Hezbollah Exploding Pagers

Hezbollah Exploding Walkie-Talkies

I approve of this attack

I approve of this attack

I approve of this attack