Thursday, September 19

Explosions rocked Lebanon recently after an elaborate Israeli scheme went into action, exploding pagers and other electronic devices belonging to Hezbollah operatives all over the country.

The first round of explosions began on Tuesday after pagers all over Lebanon blew up as part of Israel's complex plan. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nazrallah planned for the organization to go very low-tech, as it would allow them to avoid being tracked by Israel. In February, he told members, "Shut it off, bury it, put it in an iron chest and lock it up." Rumors had been spreading that Israel was tracking their every move and scanning all of their communications, so Nazrallah ordered a shipment of thousands of pagers from BAC Consulting in Hungary, which was selling pagers under the branding of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Gold Apollo.

However, it seems to have all been part of an Israeli setup. According to intelligence officers interviewed by the New York Times, BAC Consulting was a shell company set up by Israel long before the order, as they had long expected Nazrallah to order pagers. They hooked up with Taiwan's Gold Apollo for marketing and sold pagers to various companies under Gold Apollo's branding, but the actual people producing the pagers were Israeli officers. When the time came around and Hezbollah made the order, the officers secretly manufactured the pagers with batteries that contained a dangerous explosive that was rigged to explode when the command was sent. Israel has declined to comment on the matter.

Gold Apollo later reasserted that they had no correlation with the production of that specific model, known as the AR-924-- BAC was producing their own pagers instead of importing them from Taiwan.

An expert inspected a pager that did not explode and found that the pager had been rigged in a specific way that made sure someone was nearby. When the message was sent, the pager experienced a strong vibration, forcing the user to press a combination of buttons to stop the buzzing. When those buttons were pressed, it activated a small amount of explosive that had been planted inside the pager, setting off the explosion. Unfortunately, the setup meant that the user was not necessarily the operative, meaning that another innocent person could have pushed the buttons and suffered from the attack.

Nazrallah later told every Hezbollah officer to carry the pager at all times, and thousands of them were distributed across the organization. Then, at around 3:30 pm on Tuesday, a ping was sent to each pager in Arabic, camouflaging the intent of the message. At that exact moment, every pager in the nation exploded, wreaking havoc across Lebanon. The attack killed at least 12 people, including two young children, and injured over 2,800 others, leaving stricken victims lying across the streets. Hezbollah later confirmed that eight of their members had died, while thousands of others were injured. Most of the explosions took place in Beirut, Lebanon's capital and largest city of around 2.4 million people, injuring around 1,850 people, while approximately 750 were injured in southern Lebanon and another 150 were injured in the agricultural region of Beqaa to the east.

Hospitals were quickly inundated with a surge of patients who had suffered injuries from the attack, which included missing fingers and hands, severe cuts and burns, and damage to facial features like the eyes, ears, and nose. The worst of the attacks took place in areas where Hezbollah operatives are everywhere, primarily in parts of southern Lebanon near the border with Israel.

Then, on Wednesday, another round of explosions rocked Lebanon, coming from other low-tech devices like radios, walkie-talkies and solar panels. One of the explosions went off at a funeral that was taking place for a Hezbollah operative who had died in Tuesday's attacks, sparking more anger towards Israel. The second wave of attacks killed at least 20 people and injured 450 others, making the latest round even more dangerous than the first. The explosion of regular household devices has created a large amount of paranoia amongst locals, and devices are now being kept far away from people out of fear that an explosion could take place at any second-- the devices have become literal ticking time bombs. It is unclear how the bombs were placed inside the devices affected by the second wave, but investigations are ongoing.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have been rising over the last few months, especially due to the fact that Israel refuses to halt their attacks on Palestine following the October 7 invasion of Israel by Hamas. These attacks have caused serious chaos throughout the Hezbollah organization, and the purpose is to let them know that Israel is watching their every move. However, they will need to be cautious to avoid a full-scale escalation, and other nations like the United States are working to ensure that an all-out war does not occur in the region.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): There’s no clear reason as to why a hamburger is called a hamburger if it doesn't contain any ham, but the most likely origins are from Hamburg, Germany. The city was known for the original Hamburg steak, and the dish was shortened to "Hamburgs" later on. Then, when the beef was eventually sandwiched between two slices of bread, it became "hamburgers."

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): No matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out. (Al Gore)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): By and large (adv)- By and large is another way of saying "in general" or "on the whole."

In a Sentence: By and large, I like the way things have gone.