[News] New warfare era: Israelis weaponise consumer goods in terror attacks

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/new-warfare-era--israelis-weaponise-consumer-goods-in-terror>
New warfare era: Israelis weaponise consumer goods in terror attacks
Mohammad Al-Jaber, Ali Jezzini
September 20, 2024
------------------------------

The Israeli occupation indiscriminately targeted Lebanese civilians and
Hezbollah members alike in a terrorist attack the likes of which have never
been seen before.
[image: 1a4c5155-7334-42b3-9ca0-b7c3a63f7a99.jpg]

   - the UN’s Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) prohibits
   the booby-trapping or the planting of explosives in what seems to be
   harmless portable objects (Illustrated by Mahdi Rteil to* Al Mayadeen
   English*)

Lebanon is reeling from a devastating strike that targeted various assets
of its infrastructure after the Israeli occupation seemingly booby-trapped
thousands of pager devices
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--planted-explosives-in-pagers-sold-to-hezbollah--nyt>
used for communication purposes be it among Hezbollah members, medical
staff, or regular civilians. The attack in itself is unprecedented both in
terms of the manner in which it was carried out and the demographic it
targeted, as the indiscriminate nature raised eyebrows the world over.

The pagers detonated during rush on the first day of school for many. Due
to the magnitude of the attack, Lebanese were left confused. Many thought
there were shootings or individual altercations, others who were closer in
vicinity to the explosions thought they were terrorist attacks, as the
chaos that ensued was reminiscent of the bombings that had taken place in
the southern suburbs of Beirut in the early 2010s. Ambulance sirens were
echoing throughout Beirut and elsewhere, and due to the infamous rush hour
congestion, it was incredibly difficult for EMTs to get to the wounded; the
wounded had to resort to mopeds to get to hospitals for treatment.

The Israeli occupation could not have carried out the terrorist operation
at a worse time, and deliberately so. The claims of the attack targeting
military personnel could not be more outlandishly false. Those targeted
include children, as two have died thus far, and numerous civilians. This
is not to mention those who died due to ambulances being occupied with
tending to the wounded to the point where they could not tend to people who
needed emergency care away from the attacks, or perhaps because they could
not reach them in time.
Civilians were a prime target

Every aspect of the attack was deliberate. Its indiscriminate and blanket
nature is telling of the Israeli occupation’s tactics and intentions:
Inflict as much loss on the enemy regardless of at what cost. There is also
a more implicit issue at hand, which is to tarnish the image of Hezbollah
by painting the Resistance as jeopardizing the Lebanese people as it put
them in harm's way when the devices exploded. The overwhelming support the
Resistance and the wounded received after the tragedy proved these efforts
were met with failure.

Going back to the indiscriminate nature of the attack and how it put
countless civilians in harm's way in more ways that could be fathomable.
Perhaps a truck driver could have had his explode while on the highway,
losing him control over the vehicle and jeopardizing civilians; a nurse
helping in the delivery of a baby; a father carrying his child while
resting their body on his waist and so on and so forth. When looked at from
this perspective among many others, it begs the question: Does such an
atrocity violate international law?

It does. The attack in of its facets, violates international law. The
Amended Protocol II of the UN’s Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
(CCW) prohibits the booby-trapping or the planting of explosives in what
seems to be harmless portable objects. Even more so, and more flagrantly,
the attack violates the Geneva Convention, which clearly prohibits
indiscriminate attacks, and this attack, as per the aforementioned talking
points, qualifies as indiscriminate.
A dangerous precedent

One key issue that seems to be glanced over throughout this debacle is how
this sets an extremely dangerous precedent, as this is primarily a
civilian-use electrical appliance, as aforementioned. It is used by
civilians, doctors, and off-duty fighters, meaning its use for an attack of
such magnitude opens the door for much worse attacks of the sorts, and we
might see a future where the weaponization of dual-use consumer goods on an
industrial level – again, we are talking about over devices – becomes the
norm in warfare. Not to draw comparisons between the Israeli occupation and
Russia, but if Moscow had infiltrated Ukraine’s supply chain and rigged
thousands of devices that made their way to military personnel and trickled
down to some EMTs and civilians before blowing them up while they were at
home or in traffic, there would certainly be more uproar from the
collective West.

While eastern “bloc” countries such as Russia, Iran, and China, and even
regional Resistance movements carry out any movements or make threats out
of self-preservation and self-defense, the whole world rushes to condemn
them. Still, the West – be it the United States, France, the United
Kingdom, or the Israeli occupation – constantly moves the goalposts to
ensure that even if it violates international law, they would not be held
accountable. This is especially the case for the Israeli occupation, being
the highly valuable Western asset it is. Therefore, instead of being held
accountable for their actions, they bend and twist international law to fit
their contorted view of the world, violating any and all conventions, laws,
and regulations with few to no repercussions.

The terrorist attack, which is arguably ingenious and sophisticated, is but
a new spin on an old record. The civilian casualties were swept under the
rug, and everyone holding the device or carrying it was accused of being a
Hezbollah member. This also ignores the fact that Hezbollah operates or is
behind numerous civil institutions that have nothing to do with its
military side, such as the Martyr Foundation, an institute that takes care
of the orphans and widows of martyrs and another institution for those
wounded in combat; the al-Mahdi Schools, a “franchise” of religious
schools; and the Qard al-Hassan, a microcredit, and savings institution.

With civilians being targeted and affected in such a manner, assuming that
Lebanon did not have the deterrence power it has, it will be time before
the country is treated like Gaza.  In that case, just as the Israeli
occupation bombs Mosques and Churches, schools, and hospitals under the
pretext that Hamas is using them for military purposes, Lebanon’s Mosques
will become Hezbollah, its Churches will become Hezbollah, its schools will
become Hezbollah; its banks, refugee centers, UN organizations, NGOs, and
government buildings will all become Hezbollah as “Israel” finds more ways
to inflict more harm on civilians by rendering civil institutions
“legitimate military targets”.
How could it all have come to be?

The attack was definitely a blow to Hezbollah, but it is unclear how such a
meticulous, organized force that compares to modern armies could have let
literal bombs slip through their fingers without any doubts about the
possibility of the devices being laden with explosives. So how could have
that happened?

Investigations
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-probes-pager-detonations--says-fully-ready-to-defe>
point to batteries being rigged in both the pagers and the walkie-talkies
that detonated the very next day. Most reports say the devices had 20 grams
of the highly explosive mixture of plastic explosives such as PETN, though
it is uncertain how that detectable substance could have passed through
customs, especially as the shipment reportedly made it through several
airports and had numerous stops before arriving in Lebanon. It is
noteworthy that the attack was highly sophisticated and not foreseeable and
thus it would have been greatly difficult to expect.

The fingers do still point to PETN which would have been planted in the
devices during transit from the Hungarian licensees of Apollo Gold, the
makers of the pagers. It would have been wired to the battery with a
transceiver and meant to explode when a coded radio signal is sent, thus
activating the receiver and detonating the charge. That, combined with the
corrosively flammable lithium within the battery and possible shrapnel,
would have caused the deadly small blasts.

However, the detectable nature of PETN forces one to shy away from it, as
it can be detected through chemicals, X-rays, infrared waves, and
microwaves, many of which are directly present in airports all over the
world. Surely the Resistance movement has incorporated such devices in its
supply chain, and though this is merely theoretical, it does, in this
hypothetical, rule out PETN.

Security sources
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/explosives-used-in-pager-attack-can-bypass-scanning--securit>
had spoken to *Al Mayadeen* about the terrorist attack, saying the material
used in the unfathomable operation could bypass all scanning equipment
available even in countries and airports around the world, saying the
undetectable explosive material was “specifically designed for this
mission.” The sources added that the devices had been rigged from sources
via their microchips where the explosive material was contained.
What could the explosive be?

There are numerous hypotheses as to what the explosives could have been.
For example, it is possible they were some plastic explosives that could
not be detected because they were contained within the battery, and thus
the layers of lithium would have made them undetectable, or they could have
been a new yet-to-be-discovered form of plastic explosives developed
specifically for such missions, which could bring about a new era of
terrorist attacks, with the possibility of quite about any item being laden
with explosives unbeknownst to the users.

Another valid hypothesis is that the Israeli occupation found a way to
weaponize lithium and charge it, which would be entirely undetectable
through scans and would be contained within the battery itself, just as the
hypothesis suggesting that it was plastic explosives placed among the
lithium. It is noteworthy that the explosive had to have been within the
batteries, as the handheld radio receivers weigh a lot less without their
batteries, and thus any alteration of the weight without the battery being
in the device would be noticeable.

Lithium is highly flammable and extremely reactive, with any form of water
or condensation turning it into the equivalent of a portable, miniature sun
burning at around 2,000 degrees Celsius while producing explosive hydrogen
gas, though it is unclear how exactly this could have been weaponized.

What is certain is that the explosives themselves were directional or
contained a shaped charge, as seen in several CCTV footage showing the
blasts, with the explosion itself emanating from the screen toward the
user. It is also suspected that the devices contained some sort of shrapnel
as concluded from numerous photos obtained by *Al Mayadeen* showing the
martyrs and the wounded. The photos and videos showed possible
pellet-shaped holes that point to the possibility of the device containing
such material intended to inflict additional harm

While many aspects of the operation remain shrouded in mystery pending an
investigation by Hezbollah, which Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
promised
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/sayyed-nasrallah-challenges-netanyahu-to-return-settlers-to>
during his speech on Thursday, few things remain certain: The Israeli
occupation is a terrorist regime that will cross any red lines necessary to
inflict harm on its adversaries, be it with civilian casualties or not; and
this operation will have a devastating toll on the supply chain of
communication devices such as the ones used in the attack, with demand
diminishing for devices made in Japan, whose ICOM devices exploded on
Wednesday, and Taiwan and Hungary.

Any organization, military, or leadership that seeks security without
foreign meddling will resort to Russia, China, or the like for more secure
devices free from tampering.
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