Quick Update On The Pager Terror Attack
This appears to me to be smart thinking. There may be some holes in it, but the general idea seems correct. The key here is that this is highly unlikely to have happened without cooperation from a third country. What I mean is this. Some of the early accounts claimed that, Oh, Israel intercepted the shipment(s) of these pagers and inserted the explosives. Uh, shipment tracking, anyone? That strongly suggests that the explosives were inserted before any shipment(s), and the shipments) didn’t pass through Israel. So, point of origin, point of manufacture or storage prior to shipping. Also, no precise targeting—these pagers were not custom built in Taiwan/Hungary for Hezbollah and shipped for distribution to a central Hezbollah warehouse. Further, the whole point of these devices is that they operate more or less like radios
INDEPENDENT PRESS @IpIndependent
Iran: ‘A very sophisticated attack’
Comments from military analyst Elijah Magnier on the near simultaneous pager explosions in Lebanon.
 This is a very sophisticated attack, and normally at this scale, it requires the collaboration of more than one entity.
 If Israeli intelligence managed to compromise the pagers that have been supplied to Hezbollah, this [does not exclude] that they have managed to access the supply by Iran because Iran supplies Hezbollah with most of its equipment.
 An operation of this scale needs the presence of high explosives, even in small quantities, and an awfully long time to sit at every single pager and manually insert 1 to 3 grammes [0.4 to 0.11oz] of highly explosive material and yet conserve the functionality of the pager, the screen and all the electronics without all of this being affected.
 That requires the work of more than one intelligence service and a break in the channel of supply.
 That can also indicate that there is an explosive because batteries don’t explode on their own in Beirut, in th Bekaa Valley, in the south of Lebanon and in Syria and everywhere there is a pager at the same instant.
 This is not something related to the malfunction of the pager, but it is something that is implemented in it and exploded by a frequency, most likely a radio frequency.
 In this case, we understand Israeli intelligence has placed this explosive with the support of a third country before they reached Hezbollah
 This means that they have not only taken their time but they also sat on this supply for a long time before it reached its final destination and most probably the Iranians will now be examining all their products and equipment to make sure that nobody has tampered in what they have acquired.
12:59 PM · Sep 17, 2024
That much seems basically common sense. This next is more speculative:
Explosive Pagers in Lebanon have wounded hundreds people today, is the US Air Force behind the attack ? - It happened not even 20 hours after the 1st ever USAF EC-130H Compass Call flight since october 2023. - The EC-130H carries hardware and software that give the ability to hack into wireless devices, and more.
Quote
MenchOsint @MenchOsint
Sep 16
Rare
2 x US Air Force EC-130H Compass Call (Electronic Warfare) active in the eastern Med Sea. The EC-130H can disrupt enemy Command and Control communications, perform offensive counterinformation operations, and carry out other kinds of electronic attacks.
Show mo
More—from way back in 2015. As many have noted, this isn’t new tech. It’s new use: I’ve pasted in more of the article than was in the tweet, but follow the link:
I forgot to share this with you, here is an interesting link to learn more details about the abilities and role of the EC-130H
Wireless Hacking In Flight: Air Force Demos Cyber EC-130
NATIONAL HARBOR: Matthew Broderick in his basement, playing Wargames over a landline, is still the pop culture archetype of a hacker. But as wireless networks became the norm, new-age cyber warfare and traditional electronic warfare are starting to merge. Hackers can move out of the basement to the sky. In a series of experiments, the US Air Force has successfully modified its EC-130 Compass Call aircraft, built to jam enemy transmissions, to attack enemy networks instead.
“We’ve conducted a series of demonstrations,” said Maj. Gen. Burke Wilson, commander of the 24th Air Force, the service’s cyber operators. “Lo and behold! Yes, we’re able to touch a target and manipulate a target, [i.e.] a network, from an air[craft].”
What’s more, Wilson told reporters at the Air Force Association conference here, this flying wireless attack can “touch a network that in most cases might be closed” to traditional means. While he didn’t give details, many military networks around the world are deliberately disconnected from the Internet (“air-gapped”) for better security. You can try to get an agent or dupe to bring a virus-infected thumb drive to work, as reportedly happened with Stuxnet’s penetration of the Iranian nuclear program, but that takes time and luck.
...
Along with however many victims this attack ultimately claims, Israel just killed its high tech sector, which accounted for 15.3% of GDP and 50% of exports in 2021.
https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/report/part-a-israeli-high-tech-2022-situation-report/
Any electronic device made in Israel or under contract in a foreign nation friendly to Israel will be henceforth treated as if it were radioactive. Whatever portion of the Muslim world still buys from Israel will be looking for new suppliers now, and I would expect companies involved in the production of hand held devices will be doing likewise. Big boost for Huawei and other Chinese suppliers who will no doubt be the first to come up with a tamper proof casing for their products.
What isn't mentioned in the reporting on this attack is that many of the victims were health care workers.
from this 2018 article:
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/why-does-hezbollah-want-lebanons-health-ministry
>Today, however, Hezbollah’s health services—which include five hospitals and hundreds of medical centers, infirmaries, dental offices, and mental health providers—can barely meet the needs of wounded soldiers and their families, according to many local reports. Based on the average ratio of killed to wounded in modern combat, the group may have upwards of 9,000 such casualties to take care of.<
How many of these pagers were distributed to nurses and doctors? How many were used by others employed by Hezbollah in non-military roles, given the broad presence of Hezbollah in various public services? I guess we'll eventually find out.
This type of attack has no doubt been considered by other intelligence agencies who've then put the kibosh on it because of the potential unintended consequences which Israel will soon be facing. Israel seems intent on its own destruction and this attack proves the point. Whatever short term advantage it has gained, the blow back will cause more harm to Israel than to any of its enemies. At this point even North Korea looks sane by comparison.
Not surprising we assisted. The US military is basically the Israeli Foreign Legion.