Thousands of Casualties in One Minute: Details Emerge About Israel’s Bloody Terror Attack in Lebanon
Israeli aircraft bombed the southern suburb of Beirut, Sept. 20. 2024. X/ @mariresisting
By: The Cradle
September 20, 2024 Hour: 11:40 am
At least 10 people were killed during the unprecedented Israeli attack, including two children.
Israel’s terror attack against Lebanon on 17 September was executed prematurely after Tel Aviv received intelligence that Hezbollah members had discovered their pagers were tampered with, according to a report by Al-Monitor.
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The outlet reported on 18 September that two members of Hezbollah found out the pagers used in the attack had been infiltrated and that Israel decided to go ahead with it early once it received intelligence about the discovery.
Al-Monitor cited sources as saying that thousands of pagers were rigged with explosives before being delivered to Hezbollah. It added that the plan was to detonate the pagers in the event of an all-out war between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. The Israeli terror attack was kept secret even from Washington.
Axios also reported on Wednesday that the attack was launched prematurely because Israel feared Hezbollah had caught on to the plan. “It was a use it or lose it moment,” a US official told Axios.
“Israeli intelligence services planned to use the booby-trapped pagers it managed to plant in Hezbollah’s ranks as a surprise opening blow in an all- out war to try to cripple Hezbollah,” Axios cites an informed Israeli official as saying, adding that the Israeli defense establishment decided to carry out the terror attack now rather than further risk being discovered, the report goes on to say.
“On Tuesday afternoon local time, several minutes before the pagers started exploding across Lebanon, [Israeli Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant called U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and told him Israel was about to conduct an operation in Lebanon soon, but refused to give any specific details,” Axios said.
Sky News Arabia cited “exclusive sources” as saying on Tuesday that Israel’s “Mossad managed to intercept Hezbollah’s communication devices before they were delivered to the group,” adding that Israeli agents “rigged a quantity of the highly explosive material pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) in the devices’ batteries, which were detonated by increasing the batteries’ temperature.”
A senior Lebanese security source was cited by Reuters as saying on Wednesday that Israel’s Mossad planted the explosives inside 5,000 pagers before they arrived in Lebanon. Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said on Wednesday that the radios that simultaneously exploded in Lebanon were made by its Hungarian partner.
Gold Apollo has a “long-term partnership” with the Budapest-based company BAC, which uses its brand, the company said in a statement. It added that the model mentioned in media reports was “manufactured and sold by BAC” after the New York Times (NYT) reported that the devices came from the Taiwanese company.
“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” it said.
Former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden wrote via X, “As information comes in about the exploding beepers in Lebanon, it seems now more likely than not to be implanted explosives, not a hack. Why? Too many consistent, very serious injuries. If it were overheated batteries exploding, you’d expect many more small fires and misfires.”
Al Mayadeen reported that “the attack managed to hack the devices and send a message the moment the devices exploded.” Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim al-Moussawi said that the pagers that exploded were not only in the possession of Hezbollah members but others as well.
“We are dealing with a full-fledged genocidal attack. There is a clear criminal attack on civilians. All those carrying pagers are not military personnel. The matter must be investigated and the enemy held responsible,” he said.
Hezbollah stated on 18 September that its operations against Israel would continue normally, reiterating its vow to respond to the large-scale Israeli terror attack against Lebanon. The Lebanese resistance will “continue today, as in all the past days, its blessed operations to support Gaza, its people, and its resistance, and to defend Lebanon, its people, and its sovereignty,” Hezbollah’s statement read.
“This path is continuous and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must wait for after its massacre on Tuesday that it committed against our people, our families, and our Mujahideen in Lebanon. This is another reckoning that will come, God willing,” it added. “What happened yesterday will increase our determination and resolve to continue on the path of jihad and resistance.”
The pagers began detonating at 3:30 PM on 17 September across various areas in Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut, the country’s south, and the eastern Beqaa valley. Ten have been killed, including a 10-year-old girl and a young boy, and more than 2,700 people injured.
Among those killed was Mohammad Mahdi Ali Ammar, son of Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar. The Iranian ambassador in Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was wounded. Israel will receive a “just punishment for this sinful aggression,” Hezbollah said in one of its initial statements on Tuesday.
Autor: The Cradle
Fuente: The Cradle
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