Hamas invaded Israel 2023

[dimsum]

It's certainly going to go down in the pagers of history.

 

[medicineman]

Such an incredibly effective weapon of opportunity.

• Perhaps someone at Hez had discovered it just immediately prior and so Israel just initiated the kill chain command onto the network; or
• Hez was on the cusp of initiating an op and Israel decided to pre-empt it;
• it was ND by command line;
• 3rd party hackers
• Iran did it

So many possibilities!

Why not all of the above?

 

[GR66]

Looks like a pretty brilliantly planned Op by Israel.

A couple of interesting tidbits from CNN's live updates:

• Scores injured: At least nine people were killed and 2,800 wounded in an attack that targeted pagers held by members of Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah across Lebanon on Tuesday, according to the country’s health minister. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was one of those injured, according to Iranian state media.

• Hospitals packed: At least 170 people injured are in critical condition, the health minister said, and many hospitals in southern Lebanon have exceeded capacity.

I found these two separate tidbits quite interesting when you put them together:

Kim Ghattas, a Lebanese journalist and contributing writer to The Atlantic magazine, told CNN that Hezbollah had recently “gone low tech” in an attempt to prevent more of its operatives from being assassinated.

“It was clearly a targeted attack by Israel against Hezbollah operatives who had gone low tech, because they have been the target of assassinations over the past 10 months. They’ve been instructed to dump their iPhones, get off the internet and disconnect their CCTVs,” Ghattas told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

and

The pagers that exploded were new and had been purchased by Hezbollah in recent months, a Lebanese security source has told CNN.

So, did Israel set up a dummy operation in advance to supply encrypted pagers in Lebanon then start targeting Hezbollah smart phones so that they would switch to the pagers? If so....frickin' brilliant!

 

[McG]

This was a bet between two BEng students. The loser claimed he could prove that nobody carried a pager anymore.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Geek-rep from Wired Magazine about the pager bombs...

The Mystery of Hezbollah’s Deadly Exploding Pagers​

At least eight people have been killed and more than 2,700 people have been injured in Lebanon by exploding pagers. Experts say the blasts point toward a supply chain compromise, not a cyberattack.

Footage posted on social media claiming to show examples of the explosions from around the country depict blasts that seemed too large to come from pager batteries alone. One photo circulating widely appeared to show a mangled pager with some legible make and model information that may point to the Gold Apollo AP-900 alphanumeric pager. Other reports indicate the pager model is the Gold Apollo AR-924, which has a lithium-ion battery.

The AP-900 runs on two AAA batteries, which, like any battery, could be induced to explode, but likely not with such force and scale as the explosions depicted in alleged videos of the blasts. If the pagers used by Hezbollah are the AR-924 or another model that runs on lithium-ion batteries, which can cause more dangerous explosions, it’s still unlikely that a regular pager battery alone could produce blasts that could injure multiple people.

“Those explosions aren’t just batteries,” says Jake Williams, vice president of research and development at Hunter Strategy who formerly worked for the US National Security Agency. “Based on the reporting, these pagers were likely interdicted by Israeli authorities and modified with explosives. This highlights the risks of supply chain security, especially in places where technology is harder to ship to.”

The Mystery of Hezbollah’s Deadly Exploding Pagers

At least eight people have been killed and more than 2,700 people have been injured in Lebanon by exploding pagers. Experts say the blasts point toward a supply chain compromise, not a cyberattack.

www.wired.com

 

[dapaterson]

So presumably the Mossad infiltrated the supply chain with the explosive pagers, then convinced Hezbollah to abandon cell phones and use their pagers.

Beyond today's boom, this suggests they may now also have increased visibility on comm networks. That may be even more valuable than the psychological impact.

And means that a number of electronics salesmen are likely going to experience statistically significant negative deviations in their life expectancies.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Video showing the injured in a local hospital:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1836041414536200269

Another video courtesy of BBC showing Hezbollah member in local market when the explosion occurs. Note no one seems to rushing forward to give aid:

Video appears to show pager explosion at Lebanon supermarket

Thousands of people were injured when pagers belonging to Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[OldSolduer]

Was abduly85 around?

 

[GR66]

Was abduly85 around?

Did you try paging him?

 

[lenaitch]

So, did Israel set up a dummy operation in advance to supply encrypted pagers in Lebanon then start targeting Hezbollah smart phones so that they would switch to the pagers? If so....frickin' brilliant!

Not a techy but this is the only explanation that makes sense to my simple mind. I never carried the larger alpha-numeric type; just the smaller numeric models that took a single AA battery.

 

[Maxman1]

Beyond today's boom, this suggests they may now also have increased visibility on comm networks. That may be even more valuable than the psychological imimpact.

In particular, they may need to go back to old school analog methods like dead drops and one time pads to maintain secure comms.

 

[daftandbarmy]

More good news …

 

[OldSolduer]

In particular, they may need to go back to old school analog methods like dead drops and one time pads to maintain secure comms.

They may have to.

Whoever sold them the pagers might have lots of….questions directed their way. If this was a WW2 movie the questioners might be dressed in leather trench coats and slouch hats.

Ve vill ask zee questions here….

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

I think it all started with someone asking the following question:

Q: "How can we prove unequivocally to the world that Hezbollah is working on orders from Iran?"

A: "Blow up their ambassador in an operation that blows up a large group of Hezbollah leaders through the technological tools that link them, and only them, all."

This op was just brilliant, whoever came up with the idea is genius.

 

[OldSolduer]

I think it all started with someone asking the following question:

Q: "How can we prove unequivocally to the world that Hezbollah is working on orders from Iran?"

A: "Blow up their ambassador in an operation that blows up a large group of Hezbollah leaders through the technological tools that link them, and only them, all."

This op was just brilliant, whoever came up with the idea is genius.

There had to be a ton of subterfuge, hijinks and shenanigans to get this to work. I will admit I smiled a bit when I read this and heard it on the news. My wife was probably wondering what the hell I was smiling about.

 

[Lumber]

In particular, they may need to go back to old school analog methods like dead drops and one time pads to maintain secure comms.

This is like the plot progression of The Wire, except in reverse.

 

[Lumber]

If Hamas, Hezbollah, or any group or person exploded electronic devices in Israel and killed children, it would be described by the entire Western media class as a horrific act of wanton evil sadistic terrorism. Israel does it and it's seen as an epic based move to be celebrated. There is no way that what Israel just pulled in Lebanon is not a war crime. It is 100% a war crime. It is an act of terror and attempting to justify it by saying the target was Hezbollah when they killed children, medics, doctors, civilians is not going to work. Horrific.

...

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

If Hamas, Hezbollah, or any group or person exploded electronic devices in Israel and killed children, it would be described by the entire Western media class as a horrific act of wanton evil sadistic terrorism. Israel does it and it's seen as an epic based move to be celebrated. There is no way that what Israel just pulled in Lebanon is not a war crime. It is 100% a war crime. It is an act of terror and attempting to justify it by saying the target was Hezbollah when they killed children, medics, doctors, civilians is not going to work. Horrific.

...

I guess they could stop lobbing shells into Isreal....

 

[Halifax Tar]

If Hamas, Hezbollah, or any group or person exploded electronic devices in Israel and killed children, it would be described by the entire Western media class as a horrific act of wanton evil sadistic terrorism. Israel does it and it's seen as an epic based move to be celebrated. There is no way that what Israel just pulled in Lebanon is not a war crime. It is 100% a war crime. It is an act of terror and attempting to justify it by saying the target was Hezbollah when they killed children, medics, doctors, civilians is not going to work. Horrific.

...

I thought all the pager carriers were Hamas or Hamas adjacent ?

 

[GR66]

I thought all the pager carriers were Hamas or Hamas adjacent ?

*Hezbollah