It was the stuff of legend.
It began on the afternoon of Sept. 17 in a coordinated cyberattack in which hundreds of Hezbollah-issued pagers blew up in the hands, pockets and faces of those holding them, killing and injuring members of the Lebanese terror group. And then, the next day, during mass funerals for people killed in the previous day’s blasts, different wireless devices held by Hezbollah personnel exploded simultaneously, killing and injuring even more people.
The wholly unconventional detonations were much more significant than the dozens of Hezbollah members killed and thousands wounded in the explosions. And the reverberations of the attacks were felt far beyond the grieving families of those killed and the crowded hospital wards that were treating the wounded.
The detonations created psychic shock in Hezbollah and among its terror friends. The explosions shook the confidence of Hezbollah and its leaders, as they and rank-and-file warriors were forced to wonder what different kind of attack could come next, and from where?
No longer could Hezbollah fighters rely on the traditional retaliatory response to their 11-month, Iran-backed bombing campaign and terror attacks on Israel. Going forward, not only will Hezbollah fighters need to worry about retaliation from the sky or through conventional weaponry and fighting, but they will also need to worry about new forms and sources of response from places and items never thought to present a threat.
Hezbollah’s terror team, its allies and its state sponsor are all looking over their shoulders.
But they aren’t sure where to look. They are learning that it is hard to fend off attacks if you don’t know where they are coming from. And they have no idea what will come next.
Everyone recognizes that the pager and radio device explosion affair was carefully orchestrated by Israel — likely over a long time and through a very complicated process.
The eye-catching demonstration of Israel’s technological prowess and painstaking execution
were impressive.
But while pundits and commentators marvel at the accomplishments, there are mixed reactions to both the timing of the attacks and the lack of immediate military follow up to the activity. Some go so far as to claim that the prime minister jumped the gun in triggering the explosions for political rather than military purposes. Others argue that while the explosions were a dramatic tactical success, they had little strategic impact. And still others assert that the explosions themselves were the military goal and successfully disrupted and sowed doubt in terrorist ranks about other channels of attack.
We won’t go there.
No matter how you slice it, the orchestrated attack on the Hezbollah enemy through handheld pagers and radio devices was brilliant. While some innocents may have been victimized in the explosion process, and that is unfortunate, it is difficult to imagine a more targeted attack on the bad guys than those who were provided communications devices by Hezbollah itself for purposes of advancing the terror organization’s agenda and directing attacks on Israel. That singular accomplishment will go down in the books as one of the more impressive moves in the painful, ongoing battle between Israel and those sworn to its destruction.
While we hope it won’t be necessary, we strongly suspect that there is more to come. Israel’s ongoing fight for survival requires no less.
