The operation left at least 12 dead and more than 2,800 wounded, some of them seriously, and constitutes an “absolute first”. The explosion of the pagers took the pro-Iranian militias by surprise, whose potential was “weakened”. There was expectation for Nasrallah’s response, while a large number of people rushed to donate blood for the wounded, as happened after the explosion at the port. There was fear that it could be the prelude to a large-scale conflict.
Beirut () – With a powerful surprise attack, “an absolute first in the history of modern warfare,” according to Ici-Beyrouth, Israel launched a deadly attack on Hezbollah yesterday by manipulating and simultaneously detonating thousands of small wireless communication devices. The militants of the “Party of God” had chosen these pagers as a means of communication to replace mobile phones and smartphones that are easily traceable by the Jewish State. The top military intelligence took advantage of this circumstance to identify and eliminate the cadres and activists of the pro-Iranian Lebanese movement, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah (who was saved by pure chance) was to give a speech to the nation tomorrow.
The operation sparked a wave of solidarity in hospitals similar to that seen after the explosion at the port of Beirut on 4 August 2020. A first report published by the interim Lebanese Minister of Health, Firas Abiad, speaks of 12 dead (although the figures are not certain) and more than 2,800 injured, most of them in the face, eyes and fingers. Several people lost the use of their fingers, while at least 25 delicate and complex eye surgeries were carried out overnight at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital to save their sight.
The victims include the son of a Hezbollah MP, Ali Ammar, and a 10-year-old girl. Also wounded were the Iranian ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani (whose condition is conflicting), as well as – although in this case there is no official confirmation – the son of the MP Hassan Fadlallah and the head of the coordination unit of the Shiite party Wafic Safa. However, the highest number of deaths occurred in Syria, with at least seven victims among Hezbollah members.
Impact of explosions
The extent of these explosions in Hezbollah’s communications capabilities was not immediately clear. Journalist Scarlett Haddad told The attack “certainly disrupted the party’s communications, but the impact was more moral than military, and it does not alter the balance of forces on the ground as such.” However, she added, it remains to be seen whether this strike is the prelude to “a broader action or – hopefully for Lebanon – an alternative to it.” In any case, she warned, it adds a “totally new dimension” to the confrontation-confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah, and suggests that Israel “may have managed to infiltrate ‘moles’ into the Party of God’s logistical apparatus.” However, the journalist believes that the Party of God’s response will occur “within the framework of the established tacit rules of engagement” and concluded by stating that, despite everything, today Hezbollah “does not want war.”
Wave of panic
After the wave of panic that broke out yesterday in several areas of Lebanon at around 3:30 p.m., and after an initial moment of stupor and bewilderment at the way in which the operation was carried out, reflections began to emerge on how it was possible. A source close to Hezbollah told the AFP that “the exploded pagers are part of a shipment of a thousand recently imported devices” and, in all likelihood, “were intercepted before reaching Lebanon.” Confirming these statements, officials from the US and other countries involved declared to the New York Times Israel had managed to “conceal small explosives” in the devices purchased by Hezbollah in Taipei. There were more than 3,000 units, mainly of the AP924 model, ordered by Hezbollah from the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, which denies having supplied the devices directly and attributes responsibility to a third company in Hungary.
According to sources cited by Sky News Arabiathe Mossad would have placed a quantity of liquid explosive (pentaerythritol tetranitrate, Petn) on the battery of the communication equipment and then detonated it by raising the temperature of the battery.
Before these revelations, the operation had already raised a question: do the lithium batteries in the devices explode when they overheat, or had the devices been previously modified? Edward Snowden believes that there were “too many injuries, and very serious ones” compared to the much lower number of “accidents and breakdowns”, to support the theory of “exploding overheated batteries”.
Reactions
As always in such cases, Tel Aviv has refrained from making the slightest comment on this unprecedented operation. However, yesterday afternoon the General Staff of the Jewish State called an “assessment meeting” on the “state of military preparedness on both the offensive and defensive fronts.” Israel had announced only a few hours before the attack the decision to extend “its war objectives” to the border with Lebanon, to allow displaced persons from the north to return to their homes. For its part, the United States said it had “no knowledge” of the explosions beforehand; and at the same time, the State Department appealed to Iran, urging it to “avoid” any action that could aggravate tensions in the region. In a note, the United Nations described the series of explosions that occurred yesterday as an “extremely worrying escalation.” The Beirut government has in turn denounced “a flagrant attack on Lebanese sovereignty” and is preparing to lodge a complaint against Israel with the UN Security Council. Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced that schools and universities will remain closed today (Wednesday, September 18). There were also some skirmishes between Hezbollah militants and the Lebanese Forces at the entrance to Mount Lebanon hospital, amid a continuous flow of ambulances, while Air France and Lufthansa announced the temporary suspension of their flights to Beirut airport.
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