"They probably thought the world would applaud. The Israeli planners behind one of the most spectacular intelligence actions in the country’s history – targeting thousands of Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon and beyond by exploding the pagers in their pockets – would certainly have expected an ovation for the sheer audaciousness of it."

~Jonathan Freedland

#Israel #Lebanon #Hezbollah #pagers
/4

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/20/pager-bombing-hezbollah-israel-safer-diplomacy

The pager bombing of Hezbollah was jaw-dropping. Will it make Israel safer? Not for long

Reliance on military prowess has become a way of avoiding the path the country must now take: diplomacy, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

^{Jonathan Freedland (The Guardian)}

"It was not purely the scale of the attack – substantial though it was – that caused shock and disbelief among the Lebanese, but the pervasiveness of it. Doctors tossed away their pagers, wedding planners dispensed with their walkie-talkies, and parents disconnected their baby monitors."

~ Naji Bakhti

#Israel #Lebanon #Hezbollah #pagers
/3

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/20/device-bombs-beirut-lebanon-israel-hezbollah

The device bombs were in our living rooms, in our pockets, in our faces. Beirut is terrified

The impact of the latest outrage in Lebanon is devastating for the citizens of a country caught between Israel and Hezbollah, says author Naji Bakhti

^{Naji Bakhti (The Guardian)}

"You have the shock of Tuesday, when all of these pagers exploded, killing 12 people, injuring close to 3,000, and then, yesterday, more explosions in walkie-talkies and not clear what other electronic devices. The total, 37 dead, what, something like 3,500 people injured."

~ Amy Goodman

#Israel #Lebanon #Hezbollah #pagers
/1

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/19/lebanon

Lebanon: 37 Dead, 3,400+ Injured in Wave of Explosions in Electronic Devices Booby-Trapped by Israel

We get an update from Beirut, after at least 20 people were killed and 450 others wounded in Lebanon on Wednesday when walkie-talkie radios across the country exploded without warning, the second day of an apparent Israeli operation targeting Hezboll…

^{Democracy Now!}

First legal view I’ve seen on the pager attacks:

“Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, said booby-traps are banned under international law. “Weaponizing an object used by civilians is strictly prohibited,” she said.”

https://apnews.com/article/lebanon-israel-exploding-pagers-hezbollah-syria-ce6af3c2e6de0a0dddfae48634278288

#Lebanon #Pagers #hezbollah #Israel

Second wave of explosions hits Lebanon a day after pager attack

Israel's defense minister declares a “new phase” of war as Hezbollah officials and Lebanon's state media say explosions went off in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon in an apparent second wave of detonations of electronic devices.

^{JOHNSON LAI (AP News)}