Hundreds of victims of the pager explosion have been admitted to Beirut hospitals.
Photo: REUTERS.
It seems that a new page has been written in the history of international terrorism (and, perhaps, of the fight against it). Someone carried out a technologically unusual attack on Tuesday in Lebanon against several thousand members of the pro-Ian Hezbollah political-military organization operating in that country. Almost simultaneously, the pagers that the group’s members used to communicate exploded. The exact number of victims is not yet known, but by 7 p.m. (Moscow time), the Lebanese health department had already confirmed the death of eight people and reported more than 2,800 wounded, many of whom were taken to hospitals in the country. When one of the devices detonated, Iran’s ambassador in Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, was also injured.
With the advent of mobile phones, pagers have virtually disappeared from mass consumption. But that is precisely why Hezbollah members used them – to make it more difficult to intercept messages they exchanged with each other.
After Tel Aviv launched an operation in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called the possibility of a large-scale conflict between Israel and Lebanon real. The organization’s militants constantly fire rockets at adjacent Israeli territory.
How could this action be carried out technically? Experts interviewed by the British newspaper Daily Mail suggested that the pagers were infected with a virus that lay dormant for months before being activated by a signal. There was evidence that some kind of “urgent message” had arrived at the devices. This caused the batteries to instantly overheat, leading to their explosion.
– Most likely, the Israeli intelligence services are behind the attack. They are experts in using non-standard solutions,” Andrey Chuprygin, a senior lecturer at the HSE School of Oriental Studies, told KP.RU. – The goal is to cool the ardor of Hezbollah’s leadership, preventing a possible escalation of the organization’s actions against Israel. And, in my opinion, this will succeed.
Volunteers donate blood for victims
Photo: REUTERS.
The militants’ response will be limited to fierce rhetoric. Moreover, Iran, which sponsors the group, does not wish to get involved in a large-scale conflict with Israel. And neighboring countries in the Middle East are not at all inclined to do so.
