Israel Detonates Hand-Held Walkie Talkies in Lebanon in Second Wave of Explosive Attacks

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Sep. 18, 2024

Israel detonated walkie talkies, radios and solar panels across Lebanon on Wednesday in a second day of explosive attacks, killing at least 20 people and injuring 450 throughout the country.





From Reuters, "Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon in second day of explosions":
Hand-held radios used by armed group Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon's south in the country's deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between the militants and Israel nearly a year ago, stoking tensions after similar explosions of the group's pagers the day before.

Lebanon's health ministry said 20 people were killed and more than 450 injured on Wednesday in Beirut's suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, while the death toll from Tuesday's explosions rose to 12, including two children, with nearly 3,000 injured.

Israeli officials have not commented on the blasts, but security sources said Israel's spy agency Mossad was responsible. One Hezbollah official said the episode was the biggest security breach in the group's history.

The operations, which appeared to throw Hezbollah into disarray, played out alongside Israel's 11-month-old war in Gaza and heightened fears of an escalation on its Lebanese border and the risk of a full-blown regional war.

"We are opening a new phase in the war. It requires courage, determination and perseverance from us," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in remarks at an air force base.
The New York Times described how a nine-year-old girl was killed in the first wave of attacks on Tuesday:
American and other officials briefed on the operation said on Tuesday that Israel had programmed the devices to beep for several seconds before exploding. The victims included nearly 300 people who suffered critical injuries — mostly wounds to the eyes, face and limbs — and others who lost hands or fingers, Dr. Abiad said.

[...] [Fatima Abdullah] was in the kitchen on Tuesday when a pager on the table began to beep, her aunt said. She picked up the device to bring it to her father and was holding it when it exploded, mangling her face and leaving the room covered in blood, she said.

"Fatima was trying to take courses in English," Ms. Mousawi said. "She loved English."
Israeli propagandist Barak Ravid reported in Axios on Tuesday that Israel triggered the pager attack due to fear Hezbollah "was onto" their operation.
Israel decided to blow up the pager devices carried by Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday out of concern its secret operation might have been discovered by the group, three U.S. officials told Axios.

Why it matters: The attack took place as tensions rise between Israel and Hezbollah, which U.S. officials are highly concerned will devolve into all out war.

- "It was a use it or lose it moment," one U.S. official said describing the reasoning Israel gave the U.S. for the timing of the attack.
Both Taiwan and Hungary are denying manufacturing the devices that were used in the attacks.

From The Times of Israel:
Taiwan and Hungary on Wednesday denied making pagers that exploded the previous day while being used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon, killing 12 people and injuring thousands.

The New York Times, citing American and other anonymous officials, reported that Israel had inserted explosive material into a shipment of pagers from Taiwan's Gold Apollo, though it was not clear where and when the tampering took place.

Taiwanese prosecutors launched an investigation.

Gold Apollo denied producing the devices and instead pointed the finger at its Budapest-based partner BAC Consulting KFT.

But Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said the company "is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary."
Lebanon is also reporting some solar panels, radios and car batteries were detonated, as Al Jazeera reports:
"There was a car that exploded just behind us. At the same time, there was an explosion at another place [nearby]," he said. "I'm currently in the middle of the street. There are a lot of ambulances, chaos everywhere."

Several blasts took place simultaneously, Hashem said, similar to the explosions on Tuesday.

"But this time, it was mostly walkie-talkies or radios [that exploded]," he said, adding that reports suggested that solar devices and some batteries in cars also detonated. The National News Agency reported that home solar energy systems exploded in several areas of Beirut.

In Wednesday's attacks, several blasts were heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by exploding pagers the day before, according to journalists with The Associated Press news agency at the scene.

An AP photographer in the southern coastal city of Sidon saw a car and a mobile phone shop damaged after devices exploded inside of them. A girl was hurt in the south when a solar energy system blew up, the state news agency reported.
Any goods connected to Israel must now be assumed to be rigged with explosives until proven otherwise.

Iran and Hezbollah have shown remarkable restraint in the face of Israel's relentless attacks and Israel has responded by escalating their provocations with the hope of sparking a wider conflict to drag the US into fighting their war with Iran and its allies.

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