nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com

The Israeli government did not tamper with the Hezbollah devices that exploded, defense and intelligence officials say. It manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse.

In Lebanon, as Israel picked off senior Hezbollah commandos with targeted assassinations, their leader came to a conclusion: If Israel was going high-tech, Hezbollah would go low. It was clear, a distressed Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, said, that Israel was using cellphone networks to pinpoint the locations of his operatives.

. . .

Israeli intelligence officials saw an opportunity.

Even before Mr. Nasrallah decided to expand pager usage, Israel had put into motion a plan to establish a shell company that would pose as an international pager producer.

By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.

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  • Iceblade@lemmy.worldEnglish
    813·
    2 months ago

    Probably amongst the most impressive and precisely targeted strikes against a terror organization in history when taking the scale into consideration. Mossad is one of the most inventive intelligence agencies out there. They do not mess around.

    If it is enough to dissuade Hezbollah escalating to an all out war in Lebanon, the few tragic collaterals pale in comparison to the number of prevented deaths.

    • NeuronautMLEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      I’m thinking a terrorist attack of this magnitude with the amount of collateral casualties it had will have international implications that reach far beyond convincing Hezbollah from escalating into a war, if it’s actually going to achieve that at all. We’re talking about a terrorist group, not an army. Personally i think this will probably just delay it and strengthen their resolve to actually go to war and be even more cruel. Terror groups thrive in terror conditions. The strongest military force on the world couldn’t make a dent in terrorist groups operating in the middle east. Peace and stability, however, destroy terror groups.

      I’m pretty sure everyone has realized that further atrocities are not the way out of this war. I just hope the belligerent parties can realize it faster and start coming to terms that they will have to share the land and make concessions. Until then i guess we’ll keep seeing innocents die for motivations that make less sense each time, like Fatima Abdullah, who was just 9.

      • Iceblade@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        Peace and stability, however, destroy terror groups.

        Which is precisely why Hamas escalated the Israeli-Palestine conflict last October. They were afraid that Israeli efforts towards fostering peace and cooperation with the other Arab countries were being successful.

        Peace will be impossible to accomplish until the Middle-East at large accepts the existence of Israel, and Hamas have in turn proven that is impossible as long as militant islamist extremists with the primary goal of killing as many Israelis as possible (as opposed to securing safety, prosperity and freedom for Palestinians) rule in either of the two Palestinian territories.

        • NeuronautMLEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          It goes both ways. Like Guterres said, Hamas doesn’t exist in a vacuum. This is not to say that terrorism is justified, or that i agree with Hamas’ actions, but Hamas in itself only has the power it has because of the antagonizing of so many peoples ever since Israel was founded. I believe there is a place for Israel in the world, but probably never as a Jewish nation. Simply put, the region was never just Jewish or just Muslim, it was always multi cultural and multi religious along different parts of history. As such the future of Israel lies as a multi cultural and multi religious nation.

          I understand other Muslim states are also organized towards mainly Muslims as Israel wants to be organized mainly towards Jews, but the way Israel was founded, by taking a land that had a strong Muslim presence, there is no possible way to create a state like Israel wants without a tremendous amount of bloodshed and cruelty that will tarnish the entire history of Judaism and Israel itself, as well as the US by association, ever worse than it already has. And even if Israel and the US accept the shame of the absolute bloodshed and genocide of an entire peoples, i doubt the nation of Israel will ever know peace and the US taxpayers will ever stop having to constantly pay to keep Israel from being destroyed.