On Tuesday, Israeli forces employed advanced technology to target Hezbollah members by detonating their pagers. Hezbollah had believed that using pagers would safeguard them from the vulnerabilities of mobile phone hacking. The sophistication of this technology is difficult for even experts to grasp, let alone ordinary citizens.
Whether these were new devices or older models whose batteries were remotely triggered by Israeli forces is ultimately of little consequence. What truly matters—beyond the technical intricacies of how Israel infiltrated and then detonated thousands of communication devices in Lebanon and Syria, causing them to explode—is that innocent people were among those killed.
New nature of conflict
The pager attack showcases just how advanced Israel’s tech and intel capabilities are and casts an ominous shadow over Lebanon’s future. The war looming on the horizon could bring about unprecedented horror. From the capture of hundreds of Hezbollah fighters to the assassination of military commander Fuad Shukr and the storming and destruction of the party's scientific research centre in Masyaf, Syria, this new phase of conflict heralds challenges Lebanon has never before faced—in both scale and nature.
These realities, coupled with the recent threats from a Hezbollah official to assassinate any Lebanese president not approved by the group, paint a grim picture of the country's future. Lebanon is facing the possibility of both internal collapse and external aggression—both equally devastating scenarios.
