People sit at a cafe in Sidon, Lebanon to watch Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, deliver a televised address on September 19– CNN NEWS
Bill Gates once said, “We are changing the world with technology.”
Since the beginning of the 21th century, the widespread use of technology has brought with it unprecedented use cases– from land-based robots performing bomb disposal, cyber warfare, AI intelligence analysis and drone attacks to what has recently been an orchestra of exploding pagers and walkie talkies, a new and alarming form of technological warfare is emerging.
On the 17th and 18th of September, the world saw the two consecutive deadly attacks throughout Lebanon with exploding pagers and walkie talkies conducted by Israel. According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, thousands of Hezbollah pagers exploded, killing 12 people and wounding nearly 3,000. On the following day, another twenty people were confirmed dead and 450 more wounded, including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, in Wednesday’s attack.
The organised attack has completely stunned former intelligence operatives; Mar Polymeropoulos, a former CIA counterterrorism specialist now working with the Atlantic Council, told Vox: “It’s probably the most impressive kinetic intelligence operation I’ve ever seen.”
As is expected, the use of walkie talkies and pagers as mediums to carry out such an attack have catalysed a new aversion to using these devices in Lebanon, with civilians now resorting to Whatsapp communication despite its delayed timing in the workforce. However, pagers and walkie talkies are still used widely by the population, which has resulted in an ethical debate surrounding the means of the attack: the United Nations Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk from Austria, stated that “The pager attacks are a violation of international humanitarian law”, which prohibits the use of booby traps – objects that civilians are likely to be attracted to or are associated with normal civilian daily use – and called for an ‘independent, thorough and transparent investigation.” Moreover, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemned the collateral damage of the attacks: “Even if they wanted to target Hezbollah men and fighters, they were targeting everyone around them”, highlighting that since the devices exploded in public areas, there were also civilian casualties in addition to the original Hezbollah targets.
Although Israel has not publicly admitted responsibility for the attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made reference to the attacks during a sojourn at an air base in northern Israel on Wednesday, praising the “excellent achievements” of Israeli Defense Forces and other Israeli militaristic and government agencies. The US Secretary of State, Anothony Blinken, now urges for “restraint”, particularly regarding Lebanon, and warned that any further escalation in the Middle East could complicate ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate for the attacks by issuing a public statement that “Israel should definitely receive a fair punishment for this sinful assault, both in ways that are expected and unexpected,” leaving much to be interpreted. In addition, as quoted by Iran state-run IRNA news on Thursday, Iran promised a response for their ambassador’s injuries in the attack with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Hossein Salami reportedly told Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah that Israel “will soon face a decisive and crushing response from [the] axis of resistance”.
Featured images courtesy of CNN News and Al Jazeera, respectively
