Terrorist states get a clear message from pager bombs

The inescapable message delivered by Israeli intelligence’s audacious success in detonating pagers being used by hundreds of hapless Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and Syria is one that leaders of the so-called “Party of God” would be foolish to ignore. So, too, should Hezbollah’s and Hamas’s masters in Iran be clear-eyed about the meaning of what appears to have been the latest display of modern technological warfare by a nation fighting resolutely for its survival against the evils of terrorism.

Using 1980s-style pagers they misguidedly believed were more secure and safe from Israeli interception than modern smartphones, the Hezbollah terrorists in their stronghold in Beirut’s notorious southern suburbs and eastern Bekaa Valley, as well as in Syria, answered when a “Message from Hezbollah HQ” appeared.

Seconds later, thousands of the pagers that arrived recently from Taiwan, and had apparently been corrupted with malware, exploded simultaneously, causing at least 11 deaths and leaving as many as 4000 of the pager-users and others injured, more than 200 seriously. Sadly, among them are said to have been some civilians who had got hold of the pagers, possibly from family members linked to Hezbollah. Among the victims was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah official. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, his role crucial to channelling Iranian support to Hezbollah, lost one eye and was seriously injured in the other when he answered his pager.

Reports speak of as many as 500 of the pager-users having been “blinded”.

For the Hezbollah terrorists fighting a barbaric war aimed at annihilating Israel and its people, it would be hard to feel any sympathy. Israel, as The Wall Street Journal pointed out, has more than ample cause to target Hezbollah’s terrorist fighters who have been conducting a brutal, non-stop, daily bombing campaign against the Jewish state for most of the year since Hamas’s barbaric October 7 slaughter of 1200 Jews.

In that time, Hezbollah has rained down a staggering 8000 Iranian-supplied rockets and missiles on Israeli population centres, forcing 60,000 Israelis to flee their homes in northern Israel. Hezbollah has recently widened the scope of its bombardment to other Israeli cities and towns far from the Lebanese border, and it may be no coincidence that on Monday Israel’s war cabinet added to its war aims the imperative to achieve conditions that will allow northern Israel residents to return to their homes. On Tuesday, Israel said it had thwarted a Hezbollah plot – doubtless instigated by Tehran’s masterminds – to kill a former senior Israeli security official.

It is far from the first time that Israel has displayed such remarkable ability to use a combination of intelligence-gathering and modern technology to punish those seeking to destroy it. In July, it succeeded in killing the senior Hezbollah military commander, Fuad Shukr, in the heart of Beirut’s southern suburbs. Also in July it caused the explosion that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh when he believed he was safely ensconced in a heavily guarded Iranian Revolutionary Guard guesthouse in Tehran after being a VIP guest at the swearing in of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. There was another display of Israel’s unrelenting determination in November 2020 when it killed Iran’s top nuclear scientist by attaching a bomb to his car in Tehran.

Unsurprisingly, Hezbollah has pledged dire revenge over the exploding pagers that turned out to be ticking time bombs. So has Iran, and there is little doubt that the Israel onslaught using outdated pagers will add further to tensions in the Middle East and fears of a wider war. But as they digest the reality of the exploding pagers they believed to be secure against Israel, Hezbollah and Iranian leaders would do well not to forget that when Iran launched its retaliatory strike against Israel in April, 99 per cent of their missiles and drones failed to even reach their targets, much less do any damage.

Such is Israel’s tactical superiority even with much of the world against it. But no self-respecting sovereign nation can be expected to go on tolerating the constant barrage of attacks that Hezbollah and Iran, directly and indirectly, have been targeting at the Jewish state.

Hopefully, the exploding pagers will persuade even Hezbollah’s leaders about the reality of Israel’s capabilities and determination when it comes to defending itself. For Hezbollah and its Iranian masters, the attack should leave no doubt about their vulnerability and Israel’s undiminished ability to strike hard when the country’s deranged terrorist adversaries least expect it.

The message for the terrorists from the pager explosions could not be more clear.