The Israeli government did not tamper with the Hezbollah devices that exploded, defense and intelligence officials say. It manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse.

In Lebanon, as Israel picked off senior Hezbollah commandos with targeted assassinations, their leader came to a conclusion: If Israel was going high-tech, Hezbollah would go low. It was clear, a distressed Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, said, that Israel was using cellphone networks to pinpoint the locations of his operatives.

. . .

Israeli intelligence officials saw an opportunity.

Even before Mr. Nasrallah decided to expand pager usage, Israel had put into motion a plan to establish a shell company that would pose as an international pager producer.

By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.

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  • @givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    76•3 months ago

    In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, in the village of Saraain, one young girl, Fatima Abdullah, had just come home from her first day of fourth grade when she heard her father’s pager begin to beep, her aunt said. She picked up the device to bring it to him and was holding it when it exploded, killing her. Fatima was 9.

    And

    By the end of the day, at least a dozen people were dead and more than 2,700 were wounded, many of them maimed. And the following day, 20 more people were killed and hundreds wounded when walkie-talkies in Lebanon also began mysteriously exploding. Some of the dead and wounded were Hezbollah members, but others were not; four of the dead were children.

    Both are war crimes, and while Israel hasn’t formally declared war. Their defense minister is calling this a war.

    But you can’t use indiscriminate attacks, and you can’t aim for maiming instead of killing.

    Shit like this just makes more terrorists, which at this point is pretty obvious is Israels goal. They do t want to “win a war” they want to create a permanent boogey man so Israels current unpopular leaders get to hold.o to power a little longer.

    Bibi and his people will keep doing this shit, because it’s the only way they keep power.

    They want war and chaos

    • abff08f4813c
      2•3 months ago

      Bibi and his people will keep doing this shit, because it’s the only way they keep power. They want war and chaos

      I wish I could disagree, but, not possible.

      which at this point is pretty obvious is Israels goal.

      I think it’s important to separate all of Israel, which includes ten million people with many different views, with the folks above. Not every Israelite, or even the majority of them, necessarily want this.

      But you can’t use indiscriminate attacks,

      Agreed. In the past I was willing to give some credibility to the IDF’s claim that Hamas used their own urban population as hostages and that’s why it was difficult for the IDF. But that line of reasoning doesn’t apply with the pagers - those would have always hurt some civilians no matter how isolated Hezbollah kept from the general population.

      and you can’t aim for maiming instead of killing.

      Also agreed. Though given a choice between the two I’d be happy to be alive…

      Both are war crimes, and while Israel hasn’t formally declared war. Their defense minister is calling this a war.

      Wondering if this is worse - since it’s not a formal declaration of war they’ve decided to ignore the rules of engagement and such?!

    • @nonailsleft@lemm.eeEnglish
      -1•3 months ago

      They want war and chaos

      What’s your view on Hezbollah launching rockets and mortars over the border?

    • @chakan2@lemmy.worldEnglish
      -33•3 months ago

      They eliminated 2800 terrorists and only killed 20 civilians. That’s the most successful attack on an entrenched gorilla force in the history of humanity.

      Hezbollah and Hamas love to use civilians, children, and humanitarian aid as shields. Committing war crimes to stop the people committing war crimes is an odd argument.

      This was a much more humane attack than firing RPGs from a hospital for example.

      • @givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        32•3 months ago

        They eliminated 2800 terrorists

        Israel said they’re terrorists…

        They also called American citizens who protest the American government providing arms for a genocide terrorists…

        Would you be ok with them blowing up US college students for using the first amendment?

        • @chakan2@lemmy.worldEnglish
          -28•3 months ago

          It’s more like can we pick off those 2 or 3 people in that crowd of protesters that are about to do serious harm? If so…yea…do it.

          • @givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
            29•3 months ago

            But we don’t know if they did…

            IDF claims it only hit targets, which we know isn’t true, and people standing next to them were blown up too

            I just don’t understand why anyone would just take the IDFs word, they lie constantly

            • @wick@lemm.eeEnglish
              -15•3 months ago

              Ideally you don’t take their word, you send journalists and international investigators to the scene to verify.

              What you definitely do not do however is take Hezbollah’s word.

              • AwesomeLowlanderEnglish
                13•3 months ago

                The same journalists and international investigators that Israel has been blatantly murdering left and right?

              • Maeve
                13•3 months ago

                They kill journalists and investigators too.

              • @givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
                12•3 months ago

                Ideally you don’t take their word, you send journalists and international investigators to the scene to verify.

                Which has happened and they have shown that obviously if someone blows up while walking down the street, the explosion doesn’t magically know not to injure anyone else

                • @chakan2@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  -11•3 months ago

                  Weird…you’d think you’d have a problem when the other side does it and takes out only non combatants in a crowd.

                  • @AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    5•3 months ago

                    You know, I bet they have a problem with both! Shooting a rocket at a market is comparable to putting explosives on a possible combatant and detonating it while they are in a market. Let alone 3,000x that latter scenario.

                    Like I don’t care for terroristic acts on civilians no matter where they come from. I’m unironically ok with them mass targeting the rocket sites, though!

            • @chakan2@lemmy.worldEnglish
              -20•3 months ago

              Because I’m up on the last century of terror in that area. It’s just not compatible with western values…at all.

              It’s weird…all weird. Hezbollah wouldn’t think twice of beheading a gay man in the middle of the street, but here on Lemmy they’re like some bastion of freedom and justice.

              This was a surgical strike against a very evil organization. It’s about as humane as it gets when you’re fighting an inhumane enemy.

              • @givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
                16•3 months ago

                This was a surgical strike

                If you ignore all the evidence and just reality in general.

                I can do the same and call a lump of lead a gold nugget, but I’m not going to have much luck selling it to anyone in touch with reality.