Lebanon is reeling from a devastating strike that targeted various assets of its infrastructure after the Israeli occupation seemingly booby-trapped thousands of pager devices used for communication purposes be it among Hezbollah members, medical staff, or regular civilians. The attack in itself is unprecedented both in terms of the manner in which it was carried out and the demographic it targeted, as the indiscriminate nature raised eyebrows the world over.

The pagers detonated during rush on the first day of school for many. Due to the magnitude of the attack, Lebanese people were left confused. Many thought there were shootings or individual altercations, others who were closer in vicinity to the explosions thought they were terrorist attacks, as the chaos that ensued was reminiscent of the bombings that had taken place in the southern suburbs of Beirut in the early 2010s. Ambulance sirens were echoing throughout Beirut and elsewhere, and due to the infamous rush hour congestion, it was incredibly difficult for EMTs to get to the wounded; the wounded had to resort to mopeds to get to hospitals for treatment.

The Israeli occupation could not have carried out the terrorist operation at a worse time, and deliberately so. The claims of the attack targeting military personnel could not be more outlandishly false. Those targeted include children, as two have died thus far, and numerous civilians. This is not to mention those who died due to ambulances being occupied with tending to the wounded to the point where they could not tend to people who needed emergency care away from the attacks, or perhaps because they could not reach them in time.

Civilians were a prime target

Every aspect of the attack was deliberate. Its indiscriminate and blanket nature is telling of the Israeli occupation’s tactics and intentions: Inflict as much loss on the enemy regardless of at what cost. There is also a more implicit issue at hand, which is to tarnish the image of Hezbollah by painting the Resistance as jeopardizing the Lebanese people as it put them in harm's way when the devices exploded. The overwhelming support the Resistance and the wounded received after the tragedy proved these efforts were met with failure.

Going back to the indiscriminate nature of the attack and how it put countless civilians in harm's way in more ways that could be fathomable: Perhaps a truck driver could have had his explode while on the highway, losing him control over the vehicle and jeopardizing civilians; a nurse helping in the delivery of a baby; a father carrying his child while resting their body on his waist and so on and so forth. When looked at from this perspective among many others, it begs the question: Does such an atrocity violate international law?

It does. The attack in all of its facets violates international law. The Amended Protocol II of the UN’s Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) prohibits the booby-trapping or the planting of explosives in what seems to be harmless portable objects. Even more so, and more flagrantly, the attack violates the Geneva Convention, which clearly prohibits indiscriminate attacks, and this attack, as per the aforementioned talking points, qualifies as indiscriminate.

A dangerous precedent

One key issue that seems to be glanced over throughout this debacle is how this sets an extremely dangerous precedent, as this is primarily a civilian-use electrical appliance, as aforementioned. It is used by civilians, doctors, and off-duty fighters, meaning its use for an attack of such magnitude opens the door for much worse attacks of the sorts, and we might see a future where the weaponization of dual-use consumer goods on an industrial level – again, we are talking about over 4,000 devices – becomes the norm in warfare. Not to draw comparisons between the Israeli occupation and Russia, but if Moscow had infiltrated Ukraine’s supply chain and rigged thousands of devices that made their way to military personnel and trickled down to some EMTs and civilians before blowing them up while they were at home or in traffic, there would certainly be more uproar from the collective West.

While eastern “bloc” countries such as Russia, Iran, and China, and even regional Resistance movements carry out any attacks or make threats out of self-preservation and self-defense, the whole world rushes to condemn them. Still, the West – be it the United States, France, the United Kingdom, or the Israeli occupation – constantly moves the goalposts to ensure that even if it violates international law, they would not be held accountable. This is especially the case for the Israeli occupation, being the highly valuable Western asset it is. Therefore, instead of being held accountable for their actions, they bend and twist international law to fit their contorted view of the world, violating any and all conventions, laws, and regulations with few to no repercussions.

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The terrorist attack, which is arguably ingenious and sophisticated, is but a new spin on an old record. The civilian casualties were swept under the rug, and everyone holding the device or carrying it was accused of being a Hezbollah member. This also ignores the fact that Hezbollah operates or is behind numerous civil institutions that have nothing to do with its military side, such as the Martyr Foundation, an institute that takes care of the orphans and widows of martyrs and another institution for those wounded in combat; the al-Mahdi Schools, a “franchise” of religious schools; and the Qard al-Hassan, a microcredit and savings institution.

With civilians being targeted and affected in such a manner, assuming that Lebanon did not have the deterrence power it has, it would have only been a matter of time before the country is treated like Gaza.  In that case, just as the Israeli occupation bombs Mosques and Churches, schools, and hospitals under the pretext that Hamas is using them for military purposes, Lebanon’s Mosques will become Hezbollah, its Churches will become Hezbollah, its schools will become Hezbollah; its banks, refugee centers, UN organizations, NGOs, and government buildings will all become Hezbollah as “Israel” finds more ways to inflict more harm on civilians by rendering civil institutions “legitimate military targets”.

How could it all have come to be?

The attack was definitely a blow to Hezbollah, but it is unclear how such a meticulous, organized force that compares to modern armies could have let literal bombs slip through their fingers without any doubts about the possibility of the devices being laden with explosives. So how could have that happened?

Investigations point to batteries being rigged in both the pagers and the walkie-talkies that detonated the very next day. Most reports say the devices had 20 grams of the highly explosive mixture of plastic explosives such as PETN. However, it is uncertain how that detectable substance could have passed through customs, especially as the shipment reportedly made it through several airports and had numerous stops before arriving in Lebanon. It is noteworthy that the attack was highly sophisticated and not foreseeable and thus it would have been greatly difficult to expect.

The fingers do still point to PETN which would have been planted in the devices during transit from the Hungarian licensees of Apollo Gold, the makers of the pagers. It would have been wired to the battery with a transceiver and meant to explode when a coded radio signal is sent, thus activating the receiver and detonating the charge. That, combined with the corrosively flammable lithium within the battery and possible shrapnel, would have caused the deadly small blasts.

However, the detectable nature of PETN forces one to shy away from it, as it can be detected through chemicals, X-rays, infrared waves, and microwaves, many of which are directly present in airports all over the world. Surely the Resistance movement has incorporated such devices in its supply chain, and though this is merely theoretical, it does, in this hypothetical, rule out PETN.

Security sources had spoken to Al Mayadeen about the terrorist attack, saying the material used in the unfathomable operation could bypass all scanning equipment available even in countries and airports around the world, saying the undetectable explosive material was “specifically designed for this mission.” The sources added that the devices had been rigged from sources via their microchips where the explosive material was contained.

What could the explosive be?

There are numerous hypotheses as to what the explosives could have been. For example, it is possible there were some plastic explosives that could not be detected because they were contained within the battery, and thus the layers of lithium would have made them undetectable, or they could have been a new yet-to-be-discovered form of plastic explosives developed specifically for such missions, which could bring about a new era of terrorist attacks, with the possibility of quite about any item being laden with explosives unbeknownst to the users.

Another valid hypothesis is that the Israeli occupation found a way to weaponize lithium and charge it, which would be entirely undetectable through scans and would be contained within the battery itself, just as the hypothesis suggesting that it was plastic explosives placed among the lithium. It is noteworthy that the explosive had to have been within the batteries, as the handheld radio receivers weigh a lot less without their batteries, and thus any alteration of the weight without the battery being in the device would be noticeable.

Lithium is highly flammable and extremely reactive, with any form of water or condensation turning it into the equivalent of a portable, miniature sun burning at around 2,000 degrees Celsius while producing explosive hydrogen gas, though it is unclear how exactly this could have been weaponized.

What is certain is that the explosives themselves were directional or contained a shaped charge, as seen in several CCTV footage showing the blasts, with the explosion itself emanating from the screen toward the user. It is also suspected that the devices contained some sort of shrapnel as concluded from numerous photos obtained by Al Mayadeen showing the martyrs and the wounded. The photos and videos showed possible pellet-shaped holes that point to the possibility of the device containing such material intended to inflict additional harm

#Lebanon Shocking CCTV footage captures the moment of the explosion at a #Beirut supermarket. The blast severely injured hundreds of Hezbollah members, including fighters & medics, when their pager devices used for communication exploded.#Hezbollahpic.twitter.com/HwbPkdXIaD

— мαηιѕн נαιη (мנ) (@ncib_manish) September 17, 2024

While many aspects of the operation remain shrouded in mystery pending an investigation by Hezbollah, which Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah promised during his speech on Thursday, few things remain certain: The Israeli occupation is a terrorist regime that will cross any red lines necessary to inflict harm on its adversaries, be it with civilian casualties or not; and this operation will have a devastating toll on the supply chain of communication devices such as the ones used in the attack, with demand diminishing for devices made in Japan, whose ICOM devices exploded on Wednesday, and Taiwan and Hungary.

Any organization, military, or leadership that seeks security without foreign meddling will resort to Russia, China, or the like for more secure devices free from tampering.