The Israeli government did not tamper with the Hezbollah devices that exploded, defense and intelligence officials say. It manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse.
In Lebanon, as Israel picked off senior Hezbollah commandos with targeted assassinations, their leader came to a conclusion: If Israel was going high-tech, Hezbollah would go low. It was clear, a distressed Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, said, that Israel was using cellphone networks to pinpoint the locations of his operatives.
. . .
Israeli intelligence officials saw an opportunity.
Even before Mr. Nasrallah decided to expand pager usage, Israel had put into motion a plan to establish a shell company that would pose as an international pager producer.
By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.
Probably amongst the most impressive and precisely targeted strikes against a terror organization in history when taking the scale into consideration. Mossad is one of the most inventive intelligence agencies out there. They do not mess around.
If it is enough to dissuade Hezbollah escalating to an all out war in Lebanon, the few tragic collaterals pale in comparison to the number of prevented deaths.
It reminds me vaguely of Operation Trojan Shield, except with explosions.
In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, in the village of Saraain, one young girl, Fatima Abdullah, had just come home from her first day of fourth grade when she heard her father’s pager begin to beep, her aunt said. She picked up the device to bring it to him and was holding it when it exploded, killing her. Fatima was 9.
And
By the end of the day, at least a dozen people were dead and more than 2,700 were wounded, many of them maimed. And the following day, 20 more people were killed and hundreds wounded when walkie-talkies in Lebanon also began mysteriously exploding. Some of the dead and wounded were Hezbollah members, but others were not; four of the dead were children.
Both are war crimes, and while Israel hasn’t formally declared war. Their defense minister is calling this a war.
But you can’t use indiscriminate attacks, and you can’t aim for maiming instead of killing.
Shit like this just makes more terrorists, which at this point is pretty obvious is Israels goal. They do t want to “win a war” they want to create a permanent boogey man so Israels current unpopular leaders get to hold.o to power a little longer.
Bibi and his people will keep doing this shit, because it’s the only way they keep power.
They want war and chaos
They eliminated 2800 terrorists and only killed 20 civilians. That’s the most successful attack on an entrenched gorilla force in the history of humanity.
Hezbollah and Hamas love to use civilians, children, and humanitarian aid as shields. Committing war crimes to stop the people committing war crimes is an odd argument.
This was a much more humane attack than firing RPGs from a hospital for example.
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Am I the only one here that can still remember all the way back to October? WTF?
How about the 80 years before October. You wanna talk about the past?
How far back you wanna go? They were a classy bunch as the ottoman empire as well.
Like when gunships mowed down their own civilians?
Lol…holy fuck…really? You believe that?
You don’t/didn’t see those videos?
They eliminated 2800 terrorists
Israel said they’re terrorists…
They also called American citizens who protest the American government providing arms for a genocide terrorists…
Would you be ok with them blowing up US college students for using the first amendment?
It’s more like can we pick off those 2 or 3 people in that crowd of protesters that are about to do serious harm? If so…yea…do it.
But we don’t know if they did…
IDF claims it only hit targets, which we know isn’t true, and people standing next to them were blown up too
I just don’t understand why anyone would just take the IDFs word, they lie constantly
Because I’m up on the last century of terror in that area. It’s just not compatible with western values…at all.
It’s weird…all weird. Hezbollah wouldn’t think twice of beheading a gay man in the middle of the street, but here on Lemmy they’re like some bastion of freedom and justice.
This was a surgical strike against a very evil organization. It’s about as humane as it gets when you’re fighting an inhumane enemy.
This was a surgical strike
If you ignore all the evidence and just reality in general.
I can do the same and call a lump of lead a gold nugget, but I’m not going to have much luck selling it to anyone in touch with reality.
Ideally you don’t take their word, you send journalists and international investigators to the scene to verify.
What you definitely do not do however is take Hezbollah’s word.
The same journalists and international investigators that Israel has been blatantly murdering left and right?
They kill journalists and investigators too.
Ideally you don’t take their word, you send journalists and international investigators to the scene to verify.
Which has happened and they have shown that obviously if someone blows up while walking down the street, the explosion doesn’t magically know not to injure anyone else
Weird…you’d think you’d have a problem when the other side does it and takes out only non combatants in a crowd.
New title: “How Isreal commit acts of terrorism”
Israel is a state sponsor of terror and should be condemned as such.
They should be sanctioned.
Everyone targeted was a member of an internationally recognised terrorist organisation, and there was no reason for non-members to ever have the pagers. There are questions about rules of engagement, but one thing this operation wasn’t technically is terrorism.
These devices exploded in public places without regard for collateral damage to civilians. It is yet another war crime by Israel in addition to being an act of terror.
Also it’s just not true that everyone was a member of Hezbollah. These devices are used by medical staff in hospitals. Israel has form in targeting doctors and hospitals.
I’m not defending it, but how is this different than targeted strikes with gps guided weapons, including the katanabomb? That also has collateral damage.
One can suggest the west is engaged in terrorism in that way too, and I personally believe such strikes only create more terrorists.
But clearly most of the global community agrees with certain targeted strikes on terrorists. This is just a particular flavor of it, and is another shitty feature of the modern “war on terror”.
Another comment said that this is just going to further the violence for another decade (among the other shit Israel is up to) and I agree that the conflict IS the point.
It fucking sucks.
You cannot target with an explosive detonated at random. Lemme detonate a bomb next to your kid on a bus and see how you fucking feel when I tell you he was collateral and untargetted. See if that makes you feel better.
Did you ask Fatima, the 10 year old girl killed in the explosions, if it was terrorism? Or would you just tell her she should not have had that pager? Fucken heartless statement right here.
Did you ask the 1000 or so civilians that were raped and murdered for start this round of aggression of they’re ok with being raped and murdered?
Confusing Hezbollah and Hamas?
Media Bias/Fact Check - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Media Bias/Fact Check:
MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Very High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceNew York Times - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for New York Times:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this source“Least biased” that is a joke. The NYT was literally regurgitating Israeli propaganda about October 7th rapes and constantly gaslights us about the genocide in Gaza, using the passive voice to mask Israeli crimes.
