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submitted 2 days ago by breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other officials briefed on the operation.

The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.

The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.

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[-] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 12 points 13 hours ago

Reading reddit and seeing everyone trying to justify this nonsense is frighting.

[-] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

Why should we all not expect our next Amazon device to be just a friendly brick with an ad on it?

Because, unless you can easily open the thing to see inside, there's enough space in side of all new phones to blow our leg or our faces off apparently.

Now thanks to this, phones don't fly. So hey, you're going to Hawaii? Better ship your phone separately on time so it gets there before you do. You want flights to be safe and not full of these dangerous bricks. Ofcourse, screw the mail man who will have to drive from the Continental United States over to Hawaii. It's a water truck... details details...

Should I buy a new device for my kids and or family or myself? Nope unless the thing is transparent like an iMac.

An iMac is an old model personal computer sold by Apple, where the chassis was mostly translucent with bright colors.

[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 0 points 12 hours ago

This is crazy that we tolerate such a breach of social trust.

[-] Sauvandu60@lemmy.ml 7 points 18 hours ago
[-] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

I agree, but they probably could've worded it better. The pagers were meant for Hezbollah but that doesn't mean they exclusively went to Hezbollah.

[-] nonailsleft@lemm.ee -3 points 16 hours ago

So true. Could you imagine being in Hezbollah and not giving your personal Hezbollah-issued one-way pager away to someone else?

[-] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

It depends a lot on how the pagers are distributed. Is it a batch that was carefully delivered to only Hezbollah members? Is that where all the pagers from that batch went?

It's not like the pagers are stamped with "for Hezbollah only". I'm concerned how they were all distributed.

[-] nonailsleft@lemm.ee -2 points 17 hours ago

More like everyone's suddenly ~~gangsta~~ a 'health worker' when their pager explodes

[-] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

two kids died in these explosions with much many more wounded.

well guess what we call groups that kill civilians with bombs?

[-] TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee 80 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

You could tell Israel did it by the wanton disregard of civilian casualties and the lack of a global governmental backlash against the act.

What I'm surprised is that were able to get them to believe the propaganda that pagers would be a much more secure communication medium.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

The articles keep repeating "Hezbollah", but the target of the attack appears to have been the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon.

Much like the US bombing of an Iraqi airfield to kill the Iranian diplomatic delegation to Baghdad, this appears to be an entirely illegal and recklessly deployed assassination plot aimed at one guy. The thousands of injuries and the eight dead (at least two being children under the age of 11) are just collateral damage the IDF has once again blanket-tagged as "Evil Muslim Militants".

[-] TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago

That article doesn't really indicate that one person was the target, nor does making 3000 pagers or whatever they were into bombs. I find it more likely that the Iranian delegation representative was just meeting with Hezbollah at the time or received one of their pagers to stay in communication. Nothing in the articles you link suggests this was done just to target them, just that they were affected.

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[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Imagine if everyone's phone exploded to execute like 10 guys.

Edit: The take aways here are

  1. Israel is a terrorist nation, that views civilian casualties as bonus points

  2. any country who imports their electronics instead of making their own is susceptible to this kind of tampering.

  3. The press is covering a terror attack like its some kind of new video game

  4. All the unexploded ordinance can be delivered to Hezbollah as a gift. If the rumor is true that this was triggered because they became aware of the bombs, there will likely be many israelis killed by these explosives in the near future.

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

Reminds me of the time Mossad sent letter bombs against Palestinians living abroad.

https://youtu.be/gS5cDF0IC_Y

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 182 points 2 days ago

So...

They're just casually admitting to another war crime?

Against someone I don't even think they're officially at war against?

[-] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 111 points 2 days ago

When there are zero consequences for war crimes, the "rules based" law and order we virtue signal is completely meaningless.

[-] jonne@infosec.pub 63 points 2 days ago

They're not at war with Hezbollah, so it's just terrorism really.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Tell Israel:

Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance.” He made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying “the results are very impressive.”

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

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[-] SeaJ@lemm.ee 98 points 2 days ago

State sponsored terrorism.

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 4 points 1 day ago

Not even "sponsored", just state terrorism.

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[-] Moah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 33 points 2 days ago

Who is a terrorist state exactly?

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 43 points 1 day ago

Both?

I mean I'm no fan of Israel, but Hezbollah ain't exactly the Red Cross.

[-] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

with Israel clearly having the greater outreach, destructive power and perhaps even less self regulation than Hezbollah as it seems.

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 5 points 1 day ago

It also isn't a state.

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[-] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

Both but one is supported by the USA so they get unlimited free passes

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[-] El_guapazo@lemmy.world 72 points 2 days ago

How do we know these were actual terrorists and not just random people that bought a pager?

They've classified infants as Hamas terrorists before so I'm a bit skeptical.

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 51 points 2 days ago

The splodey ones all came from the same batches that were bought by Hezbolla-linked companies and distributed by them to hezbolla members. They didnt just 'upgrade' every pager made by gold apollo. Only batches destined for Hez.

Of course, theres undoubtedly a lot of people who ended up with one of the booby trapped batch, who are just regular doctors, nurses, workers, etc, and theres no certainty that the person who was issued the pager was holding it at the time. Could have been their kid, or wife, or whatever, so the attack was still not very discriminate.

[-] Deceptichum@quokk.au 44 points 2 days ago

They literally killed a child in this attack.

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[-] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

It's worth noting that Hezbollah members aren't just militant fighters. There are also social services and Parliamentary members

Hezbollah organizes and maintains an extensive social development program and runs hospitals, news services, educational facilities, and encouragement of Nikah mut'ah. One of its established institutions, Jihad Al Binna's Reconstruction Campaign, is responsible for numerous economic and infrastructure development projects in Lebanon. Hezbollah controls the Martyr's Institute (Al-Shahid Social Association)

Hezbollah holds 14 of the 128 seats in the Parliament of Lebanon and is a member of the Resistance and Development Bloc. According to Daniel L. Byman, it is "the most powerful single political movement in Lebanon." Hezbollah, along with the Amal Movement, represents most of Lebanese Shi'a. Unlike Amal, Hezbollah has not disarmed. Hezbollah participates in the Parliament of Lebanon.

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 82 points 2 days ago

This makes more sense than them being able to remotely overload a battery to make it explode.

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this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2024
426 points (98.4% liked)

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