Israeli-tampered device blasts raise war crime concerns: The Intercept
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International law experts have highlighted the indiscriminate nature of the explosions in Lebanon and the ban on booby traps.
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An ambulance transports the wounded to the American University of Beirut Medical Center following the detonation of pagers tampered with explosives by "Israel", on September 17, 2024. (AFP)
The apparent indiscriminate nature of the Israeli electronic assaults involving pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon has raised alarm among international law experts, who warn that these explosions could constitute war crimes.
This comes after pagers exploded simultaneously on Tuesday across Lebanon and Syria and a new set of bombs—hidden in walkie-talkies—detonated on Wednesday in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.
The total death toll from these terrorist attacks has now reached at least 37, including a 9-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, with over 3,000 individuals injured.
Doctors at a hospital in Beirut reported that many of the injured had suffered eye loss and required limb amputations. The detonating walkie-talkies ignited more than 70 fires in homes and businesses across Lebanon and damaged over a dozen vehicles.
“If it is Israel behind this, they’ve got some tough questions to answer, including to the U.S. government, because the U.S. government is providing great military support,” Brian Finucane, a former State Department legal advisor under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump told The Intercept.
“It really should be in the U.S. government’s interest to ensure that its military partners are complying with the laws of war,” he stressed.
Legal expert raises questions on 'Israel's' use of explosive devices
Brian Finucane, a former State Department legal advisor under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, said as quoted by The Intercept that "if he were still advising the State Department, he would recommend that the US ask several key questions: Did Israel take steps to minimize civilian harm? Did it expect the blasts to be large enough to impact civilians? How and when were the devices modified for detonation?"
Regarding the issue of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, he cited a prohibition clause in a law, which both "Israel" and Lebanon have accepted under Article 7(2) of Amended Protocol II.
The clause stipulates that the “use of booby-traps or other devices in the form of harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material" is forbidden.
It is worth noting that the law was incorporated into international laws of war in 1996.
Finucane pointed out that the Department of Defense’s Law of War Manual cites the 1996 law and provides the example of communications headsets that Italian forces booby-trapped with explosives and electronic detonators after retreating or surrendering, intending to kill their enemies. He questioned whether modifying pagers or walkie-talkies with explosive materials would meet the criteria outlined in the law.
Finucane, who is now a senior advisor with the International Crisis Group, said. “And from a policy perspective, it should be in the interest of the U.S. not to get dragged into further unnecessary wars in the Middle East, and certainly not be fueling those unnecessary wars.”
In the same context, Jessica Peake, an international law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, told The Intercept, “I think detonating pagers in people’s pockets without any knowledge of where those are, in that moment, is a pretty evident indiscriminate attack.”
“I think this seems to be quite blatant, both violations of both proportionality and indiscriminate attacks,” Peake stressed.
Both Peake and Finucane noted that the scale of this week’s attacks is unprecedented.
The Israeli military has utilized algorithms and artificial intelligence systems to conduct large-scale airstrikes on the homes of suspected Hamas fighters during its war on Gaza. These strikes have resulted in thousands of civilian casualties among those near the alleged fighters, and the program has faced criticism from Israeli occupation forces involved in these AI operations for disregarding the laws of war.
However, the nature of the explosive electronic attacks complicates any evaluation of targeting or intent.
“You certainly see a mass targeting scheme of individuals here,” Finucane remarked, referring to the pager and walkie-talkie attacks. “Israel, or whoever was launching this attack, didn’t know where these people were going to be located at any given time, so it makes it really tough to assess proportionality or other precautions.”
Finucane urged the US to leverage its influence to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, which he believes is the root cause of the war in Lebanon and throughout the region. He suggested that the US should halt its military aid to "Israel", which would stop Israeli military actions and push them toward a resolution.
“I’d say enough is enough,” Finucane told the intercept. “Does this administration want to hand off a war between Israel and Hezbollah, involving the U.S., to its successor? Does this administration want to keep fighting the Houthis with no end in sight? Does this administration want to keep fueling the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza? If not, there’s an obvious solution: getting a ceasefire in Gaza and calming things down in the region.”
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