The pagers were left mangled after the sabotage.
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(by Ronny Reyes, NY Post) – Thousands of Hezbollah terrorists were injured in southern Lebanon on Tuesday when their new pagers all simultaneously exploded — causing horrifying burns as the devices detonated on their belts and in their pockets.
Lebanese officials said 2,800 people were injured and nine killed in what Hezbollah officials claimed was a hacking attack by Israel.
Hezbollah — a Lebanese militant group that the US has designated as a terrorist organization — confirmed the wide-range attack on its operatives, including fighters and medics, with one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, calling it the “biggest security breach” since it began its near-daily attacks on Israel on Oct. 8.
Videos uploaded to social media show several incidents where seemingly unaware men had devices in their pockets blow up, with the victims crying in pain as bystanders ran away.
One such video shows a man shopping at a local grocery store when an explosion triggers in his pocket, sending debris flying out of his pants as he falls to the ground.
Other videos circulating on social media show dozens of wounded men in hospitals. …
Several of the men caught by the blasts could be seen covering their thighs, which were likely wounded when the pagers went off in their pants.
Doctors could also be seen treating the injured men lying on cardboard mats in the hallway as the hospitals were quickly inundated Tuesday morning.
Along with Hezbollah operatives, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured in the blasts, according to Tehran’s Mehr news agency.
Hezbollah officials claimed Israel was behind the pager attack. “The enemy (Israel) stands behind this security incident,” a Hezbollah official told the AP. The Israeli military has not commented on the incident.
The devices that detonated were all the latest models acquired by Hezbollah in recent months and distributed to its members, with the devices suspected of being tampered with, three security sources told Reuters.
Through the use of malware, the devices could see their lithium batteries overheat and explode.
One Hezbollah official told the Wall Street Journal that some members felt their pagers heat up and disposed of them before they detonated.
The terror groups’ leader, Hassan Nasrallah had previously warned his fighters not to carry cell phones, telling them they could be used to track their movements or carry out some kind of targeted strike.
The terror group had switched from cell phones to pagers to communicate with its militants because of fears that the cellular network had been compromised by Israeli agents.
Old school pager
The exact cause of why the pagers exploded have yet to be revealed.
Reuters journalists witnessed ambulances rushing through Beirut with the wounded terrorists amid widespread panic over the explosions.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry called on health workers treating the wounded to remove their wireless devices.
Residents said the explosions continued to occur even 30 minutes after the initial blast.
As well as the attack in Beirut, the Hezbollah official said pagers were also being detonated in south Lebanon.
The Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed the number of dead and injured before Tuesday afternoon.
Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in near daily attacks over the border since the terror group began attacking the Jewish state in solidarity with Hamas [following Hamas’ October 7 horrific murderous rampage in Israel in which they murdered, raped and burned over a thousand Israeli citizens, and kidnapped over 200 into Gaza].
[UK Daily Mail reported: Israel and Hezbollah have been edging closer to war, with both sides intensifying strikes that have forced tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese to flee border towns.A senior Israeli official told the Mail: “Hezbollah has been attacking Israel for 11 months, causing 70,000 Israeli civilians to leave their homes and become refugees. This situation is unbearable. It’s equivalent to Manhattan being emptied of its residents.
No country would tolerate such a situation. It is Israel’s duty to protect its citizens from Hezbollah’s aggression.”]
Published at NY Post on Sept 17. With Post wires
WHEN AND WHERE DID THE BLASTS TAKE PLACE?
The detonations started around 3:30 pm local time in Lebanon in the country’s south, the southern suburbs of Beirut known as Dahiyeh and the eastern Bekaa valley – all Hezbollah strongholds.
They lasted for around an hour, with Reuters witnesses and residents of Dahiyeh saying they could still hear explosions at 4:30 pm local time.
According to security sources and footage reviewed by Reuters, some of the detonations took place after the pagers rang, causing the fighter to put their hands on them or bring them up to their faces to check the screen.
HOW BIG WERE THE EXPLOSIONS?
- The blasts were relatively contained, according to footage reviewed by Reuters.
- In two separate clips from the CCTV footage of supermarkets, the blasts appeared to only wound the person wearing the pager or closest to it.
- Footage shot at hospitals and shared on social media appeared to show individuals with injuries of varying degrees.
- The blasts did not appear to cause major damage or start any fires.
Questions
NOTE to students: Before answering the questions, read the “Background” below.
1. The first paragraph of a news article should answer the questions who, what, where and when. List the who, what, where and when of this news story. (NOTE: The remainder of a news article provides details on the why and/or how.)
2. a) How many Hezbollah terrorists were killed/wounded?
b) Who does Hezbollah blame for this widespread sabotage against Hezbollah terrorists?
c) Ask a parent: do you think the Israeli military has the capability to carry out this plan? Please explain your answer.
3. What is Hezbollah? Be specific.
4. a) For what reason had Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned his fighters not to carry cell phones? Why did they switch to pagers?
b) What did you learn about pagers and how they detonated? Be specific.
5. Consider the information found in the “Background” below the questions. What has Hezbollah done/said that would have caused Israel to take this preemptive strike against the fighters (if they are indeed behind the pager explosions)?
6. a) Define to put someone “out of commission.”
b) What do you think: Is Israel is responsible, are they justified in using this unusual strategy to put these terrorist fighters out of commission? Explain your answer.
Background
What is the terrorist organization Hezbollah?
- Hezbollah is a terrorist Shiite Islamist group committed to the destruction of Israel.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guards founded Hezbollah in 1982 during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, part of Tehran’s effort to export its 1979 Islamic Revolution and fight Israeli forces that had invaded Lebanon in 1982.
- Hezbollah shares the ideology of the Islamic Republic of Iran (they view America as the Great Satan; Israel as the Little Satan).
- Western governments including the U.S. designate it a terrorist group. So do Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab states including Saudi Arabia.
- The U.S/ designated Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, and several individual Hezbollah members, including Nasrallah, are labeled “specially designated global terrorists,” which subjects them to U.S. sanctions.
- Following the October 2023 assault on Israel by Hamas in which the terrorists murdered, raped and burned over 1,000 Israelis, and took over 200 hostages into Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets, mortars, and drones across the Israel-Lebanon border in a show of what the group’s leaders called “solidarity” with its ally Hamas.
- Iran and Hezbollah likely advised and trained Hamas on how to attack Israel, experts say, though Hamas claims that neither was involved in planning its 2023 operation.
- The Israel-Hezbollah clashes have only worsened as they continue through 2024, fueling concerns of further regional instability.
- In addition to the border violence, Hezbollah has released threatening videos indicating it has been surveilling military and civilian sites deep inside Israel.
- Hezbollah is believed to have launched a July rocket attack that murdered a dozen children in the Golan Heights, U.S. and Israeli officials say, though the group denies this.
- Israel vowed to retaliate and was reportedly preparing a possible offensive to drive Hezbollah back from the border. (Hezbollah violates UN Resolution 1701.)
(Compiled and adapted from Reuters, wikipedia and CFR)
Some Hezbollah attacks on the U.S. and others:
Lebanese officials and Western intelligence have said groups linked to Hezbollah carried out suicide attacks on Western embassies and targets, and kidnapped Westerners in the 1980s.
The United States holds Hezbollah responsible for suicide bombings in 1983 that destroyed the U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut, killing 241 servicemen, and a French barracks, killing 58 French paratroopers. It also says Hezbollah was behind a suicide attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut in 1983. …
Hezbollah has also been accused of militant attacks elsewhere. Argentina blames it and Iran for the deadly bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in which 85 people died in 1994 and for an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 that killed 29 people. (from a Reuters report)
Operations allegedly carried out by Israel against Iran and its terrorist proxies:
- On July 31st, 2024, Iran accused Israel of planting a bomb inside the Tehran facility housing then-Hamas-chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who died when it was detonated.
- In December 2020, Israel allegedly used a satellite-controlled machine gun equipped with “artificial intelligence” to kill Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who founded Iran’s nuclear program.
- In 2010, Massaoud Ali-Mohammadi and Majid Shahriari, two nuclear scientists in Tehran, were blown up by a remotely detonated bomb hooked up to a motorcycle.
- That same year, the Stuxnet cyberweapon had devastated Iran’s nuclear program, with reports later confirming it was deployed in a joint effort by the US and Israel.
- In 1997, Hamas’ Khaled Meshaal was poisoned by Israeli agents in a botched operation that saw the terrorist receive the antidote or else the King of Jordan would walk away from a historic peace treaty.
Daily “Answers” emails are provided for Daily News Articles, Tuesday’s World Events and Friday’s News Quiz.
