Paging Hassan Nasrallah

Update: Vlad sends this:

Earlier today (in the middle of the afternoon, Beirut time) more than a thousand pagers exploded simultaneously on or near the persons of members of the Shi’ite terrorist group Hezbollah. At least nine people were killed, and more than two thousand wounded. Interestingly enough, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was among the wounded, but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah escaped unscathed. Most of the explosions occurred in Lebanon, but there are reports that several went off in Syria.

Hezbollah operatives had recently abandoned their cell phones because they had been penetrated by Israeli intelligence. They reverted to using the relatively antique technology of pagers instead, but now any pagers that didn’t explode have been discarded, leaving the Hezbollah networks more or less incommunicado.

It’s astonishing that Israel was able to hack all those devices and cause them to explode simultaneously. I have no idea how a pager can be induced to explode remotely.

I say “Israel”, but I don’t really know that the Jewish State was responsible. No one does, because there has been no official comment by the Israeli government. But who else has the capability to pull off a caper like this one?

To keep up with the latest updates on the aftermath of the incident, see this live blog from The Times of Israel. There’s also an article in The Jerusalem Post.

Below are two videos with some interesting information on the day’s events.

From The Sun:

From WION:


If any significant new information comes in, I’ll post an update.

Hat tip: Power Line.

32 thoughts on “Paging Hassan Nasrallah

  1. As of 5:00 PM Eastern Time on 09/17/2024

    Times of Israel reports:
    11 Dead
    500 blinded
    Over 3,000 wounded

    How it was done and who did it from same source:

    “Sky News Arabia quoted sources saying that the Mossad spy agency got hold of Hezbollah’s communication devices before they were handed over to the terror group.

    The Israeli spy agency placed a quantity of PETN, a highly explosive material, on the batteries of the devices, and detonated them by raising the temperature of the batteries from afar, the source said.

    A Lebanese security source quoted by Al Jazeera said an explosive weighing less than 20 grams had been placed in each pager.”

  2. The ‘hack’ in this case was probably literally hacking them open (well, more subtly than that obviously) and adding some plastic explosive. Kinda like the old CIA trick of spicing up intercepted arms shipments with ammo that had TNT instead of gunpowder before sending it on to the intended recipient.

    • Pfffft! The old Vietnam types used to do that all the time, we used it during my time in the Corps by doping rifle ammo, RPG and Mortars all the time for the enemy to conveniently find and use. It had bloody spectacular results, it was especially fun to watch a mortar crew use one and blow up by “accident” of course.

  3. what if that was just a normal Li-ion battery instead ? randomly killing people with a technology trick… maybe this is just to let everybody know how one can be remotely killed by his own electronic devices. i dont even think the jews achieved anything by this new level of terrorist strategy.

    • A small dose of explosive was used and those pesky Jews threw a spectacular anti-jihadist party. the ragheads are now terrified of what explodes next. Great job Israel, just keep mowing the lawn in gaza.

      • i remember decades ago they used to say that people who do terrorist activity are uncapable to fight, weak and vile, so that they have no alternative to terrorism. the terrorist state of israel has been fighting for almost a year now and did not solve really anything. it is not going to end well for them. this is my opinion.

        • Side with those GD savages of islam at your peril, you are bloody lucky I am not in charge, for those Israeli’s are far to nice to their enemies, I would simply use my hero’s tactics General William T Sherman and really makem howl. Want to solve the islamic problem? rakem and stackem until none are left. No more muslims = no more problem. If you can’t handle this unfortunate truth and brutal harsh reality, get back in the kitchen.

  4. “The ‘hack’ in this case was probably literally hacking them open (well, more subtly than that obviously) and adding some plastic explosive.”

    You may be proven correct. But I reckon that -someone- hacked into the firmware, disabled the battery’s thermal sensor/safety switch and instructed all these gizmos to short-circuit (i.e., dump current beyond the battery’s safe limits) at a specific time.

    Aloha Snackbar!!

    • If they had physical possession of the devices before Hezbollah got them (which seems apparent at this point) they could have easily done that at the same time they put the explosives in. This is going to have MASSIVE aftereffects on Hezbollah’s ability to function.

      On a related note, anyone know if there’s a betting pool yet on which Hezbollah device is going to explode next?

      • “On a related note, anyone know if there’s a betting pool yet on which Hezbollah device is going to explode next?”

        I dunno, but MrNobody suggested ear buds, which sounds like da bomb to me.

  5. Hopefully, this will be a deterrent and Hezbollah will rethink a full on attack on Israeli cities. They should be very afraid of what else Israel has up her sleeve. US diplomacy is a joke to terrorists. Only deterrence works!

    • “Hopefully, this will be a deterrent and Hezbollah will rethink a full on attack on Israeli cities. They should be very afraid of what else Israel has up her sleeve. US diplomacy is a joke to terrorists. Only deterrence works!”

      I hope you’re right, but, sadly, if history’s any guide (it’s the best!), the Mohammedanists’ll likely take the eye-for-a-eye route and continue their ruthless attacks against civilians.

      Unfortunately—as’s been said—the only thing a terrorist/thug respects is a terror G-R-E-A-T-E-R than his own (e.g., the Japanese war machine dropped their collective jaw—in stunned bewilderment—faster than they could drop their rifles after the “Fat Man” vaporized Nagasaki in ’45).

      “The nature of civilization is such that it serves as a framework within which people may live together, however fractiously. Great wars may be fought, but a few rules essential to the preservation of any organized society will prevail. The truly barbarous know no such rules, cannot be made to live with the civilized, and must be exterminated as a threat to all mankind no less dangerous (or deserving of compassion) than a plague. There are relatively few things that separate the civilized from the truly barbarous. We would argue that paramount among these is a respect for the sanctity of innocent life, especially women and children, and when possible, civilian populations as a whole. Historically, this line has seldom been crossed by any tribal, royal or national entity. This sanctity is not an absolute thing. It is quite common for innocents to be injured and killed as “collateral damage” in a strike against a legitimate military target, but the deliberate, wholesale slaughter of women and children clearly separates the terrorist from mankind, rends their humanity nominal, and legitimizes their extermination.” —Terrorism Isn’t Rocket Science” (2002)
      http://www.triumphpc.com/psst!/jul02/rocket1.shtml

      • Thus one must be barbaric and horrific to our uncivilized types, for this is the only language they respect and understand, always keep your boot on these savages necks, otherwise they get lose to do damage, or you just simply eliminate them all, thus solving the problem all together. It is why I never have and never will take a muslim or africasn’t prisoner.

  6. This is a hit to globalism. And Israel is populated with the original globalists of all time. Shooting themselves in the feet with this one.

    • Israel and Israelis have NOTHING to do with Globalism.

      Do the research before you make such uninformed statements like that.
      [Ad hominem redacted].

      • If the globalists even so much as reduce Israel, every other country on Earth, small in size or population will be at risk. And they will be at risk of being destroyed from globalists and the friends of globalists.

  7. And now it seems a large number of walky-talkies have also exploded. At this point Hezbollah might be reduced to coordinating it’s forces with letters carried by trained birds (and with what happened over the last couple days, I wouldn’t trust that the carrier pigeon isn’t also a bomb).

  8. The explosions killed and maimed not only Hezbollah members but also some people who happened to be near them, including children. Some explosions happened in public places.

    Besides, there was a risk that the explosion will happen while the owner of the pager is driving and lead to a traffic accident involving some innocent people – for example, Lebanese Christians.

    Those responsible for this attack have shown a very irresponsible attitude to the potential collateral damage. And to human life in general.

    The attack has also shown how easily an innocent gadget can be turned into a weapon.

    This time they were used against Hezbollah, tomorrow they can be used against some other people. None of us is safe.

  9. This incident is like pouring gasoline on a fire. New rounds of escalation. And yes, it will anger those Muslims who until recently stood aside from the conflict.
    It’s all just beginning.

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