“The most significant pre-emptive strike in modern history, similar to Israel’s attack on the Egyptian Air Force before the Six-Day War.”(Faisal al-Qassem, Al Jazeera)
At least 32 people were killed and over 3,000 others were wounded after hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the terrorist group Hezbollah were detonated almost simultaneously in an attack in Lebanon and Syria on Sept. 17.-18 . The death toll may still rise, as around 300 patients are in critical condition, with some suffering from facial injuries and brain bleeding.
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Most of the injuries are said to have been to the face and hands, and the pagers are said to beep moments before the explosion to encourage the wearers to grab and hold them. Both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for the explosions. The Israeli government has not commented on the case. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured when his pager exploded and lost an eye.
According to a senior Lebanese security source, Mossad planted the explosives in 5,000 pagers that were brought into Lebanon months ago. Taiwan’s Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria, but that another Budapest-based company manufactured them. According to a statement released by Gold Apollo on Wednesday, the AR-924 search devices used by Hezbollah militants were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in the Hungarian capital, it is assumed that company mentioned was owned by Mossad and devices were manufactured in an other cover firm in Bulgaria.
One theory is that about 9 grams of a liquid explosive, nitroparaffin, had been placed in the search devices. which was placed in such a way that the shrapnel effect caused by the explosive – from the parts of the pager itself – would be as damaging as possible.
According to unconfirmed reports, Israel had planned to use explosive seeker devices as the opening strike of a planned ground attack with the terrorist group to damage the logistics/chain of command. The attack was brought forward because it was suspected that the project would be revealed in the next few days. Hezbollah uses a network of pagers to summon a large number of them quickly at the push of a button. The network was believed to have many advantages – pagers are small and considered relatively secure in terms of data security, especially since they are not dependent on mobile phone networks.
Possibly Mossad’s Attack on Hezbollah is particularly successful because of its multiple effects: In addition to being physical in terms of injured and killed operatives, it is also intelligence-operational, in terms of how the organization managed to infiltrate Hezbollah’s operations and equipment supply chain, and also psychological, in terms of counter-intelligence against Hezbollah – and the failure of security services to the spread of humiliation on social media.
In a second wave of wireless communications device explosions in Lebanon, a day after the first wave in which pagers used by Hezbollah were simultaneously detonated. This time, radio phones used by the Radwa special forces of the armed Hezbollah organization exploded in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.
The attacks came as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a “new phase in the war” and as an Israeli army division was moved north of Gaza for a long-prepared ground operation.
The detonated walkie-talkies are reportedly IC-V82 radios manufactured by the Japanese company ICOM. However, the IC-V82 is a discontinued model, and ICOM has issued a warning about detecting fakes. In the warning leaflet, the company warned that these products have not been manufactured for a long time and said that there is a risk of battery explosion in these fake models.
Hezbollah bought the walkie-talkies five months ago – around the same time as the pagers. Israel’s intelligence services had earned thousands of walkie-talkies before supplying them to Hezbollah as part of the group’s wartime emergency communications system.
The target of the radiotelephone attack was Hezbollah’s elite unit Radwan. Radwan carries out special operations for Hezbollah and its strength is about 2,500 fighters. The unit’s primary mission is to infiltrate Israeli territory and capture civilian communities in the Galilee region. Radwa’s commandos operate in small groups and, according to Hezbollah, carry out ambushes, assassinations or operations that require infiltration deep into Israel. Radwan uses highly mobile units as means of transportation: motorcycles, ATVs and light all-terrain vehicles equipped with Russian-made Kornet ATGMs (anti-tank missiles).
Despite UN Resolution 1701, which calls for Hezbollah to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, Radwan forces are still stationed on the Blue Line – a border monitored by UN peacekeepers – conducting surveillance and intelligence gathering in northern Israel.
According to Israeli reports, Jerusalem believes the death toll in both attacks is higher than reported. Crucially, the explosions caused “significant damage” to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, as most of its leadership is out of action.
According to an unconfirmed internal document leaked from Hezbollah’s military intelligence, Hezbollah suffered the following losses in the explosions of the communication devices:
- 879 people killed in explosions so far
- Of the dead, 131 were Iranians and 79 were Yemenis, the rest were Lebanese
- 291 of the dead were officers
- In the explosions, 491 were completely blinded and 602 were seriously injured
- 905 completely lost their genitalia and 1735 suffered serious damage (the search device was generally kept in a belt pouch.
After the blasts on the communication devices, Hezbollah now has thousands of disabled leaders and fighters and hospitals are full of wounded. Hezbollah’s ability to wage war has also decreased due to the fact that it cannot rely on its means of communication. Israel now has a good opportunity to clear Hizbullah from the security zone being formed in Lebanon between the Litani River and the border. In the future, the zone in question can be controlled by the forces of the Lebanese army with the support of the UN.
Sources include TimesOfIsrael , JerusalemPost , BICOM , NewArab
The article first appeared in the online publication Ariel-Israelista Suomeksi
