By Andrea Tucci,
Thousands in Lebanon were injured and at least 32 people were killed few days ago in a double attack believed to have been conducted by Israel. Thousands of pagers in the possession of Hezbollah members in Lebanon simultaneously exploded across the country, causing serious injuries. A second wave of explosions went off at the same time of day in this case walkie-talkies and other electronic devices were detonated. 2.800 people were injured and 12 people killed, including two children. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attacks, but Israel has not publicly claimed them yet. This attack is the latest in a series of escalations of the war in Gaza despite repeated warnings by the international community to contain the fighting before it gets out of hand. But how can a large-scale operation of this nature not make this situation worse? The intended targets are Hezbollah members, who use pagers to communicate without being detected by Israeli intelligence. For Lebanon’s population this latest incident has unlocked a new vulnerability, making virtually no public space safe for anyone, infact the pagers exploded and killed or injured also those were around the target. So this attack was not just on Hezbollah, but to the entire nation of Lebanon. A lot of people were completely maimed, missing fingers and hands and a lot of people lost their eyes. The death toll wasn’t so high in comparison to the injuries. If until now the war between Hezbollah and Israel across the border took the shape of more traditional attacks that include air strikes, bombings, shellings and rocket launches, now, more than ever, the target are the Hezbollah members.
The thing to strongly remember that in Lebanon Hezbollah are very much part and parcel of Lebanese society. I think this attack really exposed how Lebanese society, its politics, its institutions, everything from parliament, to banking, to daily life, Hezbollah has a hand in it. In parts of Lebanon where Hezbollah is especially strong, it provides better services than the government.
Hezbollah they’re not all fighters holding weapons, they’re doctors, teachers healthcare workers, students and employees, so the attack gave a sense of how this party is embedded in daily life is. They’re the people you see passing by you every single day. A lot of them are off duty the day of the explosions and a lot of innocent people that were also injured or even killed just living their daily lives.
But another really provocative thing about this attack is that really exposed the identities of Hezbollah fighters that to the whole world. Actually, after the explosions people were sharing on social media a lot of photos and videos, now Israel has these videos and photos and evidence of the people holding devices meant to be used by Hezbollah. Israel has faces, names, all sorts of intelligence. Keep in mind that everyone who went into hospital was also recorded.
Infact, Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah top commander, after left the hospital from a page explosions, just few hours later, was killed by Israeli airstrike.
It seems that explosives were planted in the pagers and walkie-talkies before they were imported to Lebanon. What we understood so far, that they were branded by a Taiwanese company called Apollo Gold, but that company said it only outsourced its brand trademark to a Hungarian company called BAC Consulting an Israeli shell company, at some point in the supply chain, Israel’s Mossad agency could have easily filled those pagers with explosives, before they were delivered to Lebanon.
One thing that’s really important to keep in mind is that
Israel’s goal is to return the residents of northern Israel to areas that have been evacuated, which to Israel would mean eradicating the threat of Hezbollah at the border.
Hezbollah’s rhetoric has been consistently very strong, but when it comes time to respond to large attacks, it’s always made a point to show restraint and just fall short of allowing an all-out war to erupt. Surely these attacks demonstrated the Hezbollah’s high vulnerability and has emboldened Israel to go even go further in the future.
So perhaps Israel wants a war to break out and is provoking Hezbollah to firmly respond??
