By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
Well, in the latest offering from the “You can’t make this stuff up” department, what is being touted by people who are experts in psychological warfare as one of the most remarkable “psy-ops” offensives of all time has absolutely stunned Hezbollah in Lebanon and parts of Syria.
Members of Hezbollah had been required by their leadership under the direction of their party’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah to go “old-school” and use pagers and walkie-talkies instead of their cell phones so that they could not be tracked. Allegedly, 5,000 pagers had been ordered by the terrorist group whose motto is “Death to Israel” from a company in Taiwan that apparently first sent the order to Budapest where they were intercepted and the shipments were opened. Small amounts of explosives were first placed in them and they were altered, programmed, and retrofitted to be detonated simultaneously. This is exactly what happened, and as of this writing on Wednesday, September 18, was still going on. It’s hard at this point to get a firm idea of the actual physical casualties and deaths, but estimates have been 21 dead and thousands injured.
There has been much speculation as to who is responsible. Perhaps it was Mossad. Or, it could have been a fascinating and obscure group of young cyber warriors that are known as Unit 8200, which is allegedly like the cyber-squad of our NSA.
Whoever it was, there are several things to consider as to long-term repercussions. Will Hezbollah retaliate any time soon? Can they even do so? What happens in the minds of young men when they put their trust in leadership that has experienced such a disruptive defeat? Do they press on to jihad and self-martyring or do they flee further devastation? Will chaos and even mutiny occur as they seek answers from their leadership? I am sure we will get at least a few answers soon. Until then, here is part of an article from The Jerusalem Post. Is the writer understandably impressed by what happened? I would say so. Is he crowing? Perhaps. Read this and decide how you would respond if you were literally surrounded by nations who live to see you destroyed, and then such a remarkable, unexpected victory happened simultaneously in two of those nations.
Let this be a warning to all those who would seek to do us harm: In the era of ubiquitous technology, every device can become a weapon. And those who would seek to destroy us will always be met with the ingenuity, the resolve, and the technological prowess of the forces of freedom and justice.
This is not just a military victory, but a triumph of the human spirit over the forces of darkness. It is a reminder that as long as we have the determination to defend ourselves, the ingenuity to adapt, and the resolve to never forget the threats we face, we will always emerge victorious.
So let us marvel at this technological miracle.
Let us honor the brilliance of those who made it possible.
Beepers-to-bombs; who knew, and what now?
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
September 20, 2024
