Let’s start with the background. Israel has had to evacuate about 60,000 civilians from the north of that country due to daily rocket attacks launched by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon that have been going on a year. Israelis have been out of their homes since October of 2023. Now, their return has become a goal of the War Cabinet.[i] 
Israel retaliated by launching one of the most creative and technologically sophisticated attacks on the Hezbollah terror group. At exactly 3:30 PM local time, on Tuesday, September 17, pagers used by Hezbollah simultaneously exploded. Seconds before, all those pagers were called so that the terror operatives would be handling them as they went off. The Wall Street Journal explained that “a shipment of pagers from their manufacturer was intercepted en route to their destination and explosives were placed inside along with malicious code. A page would set them off.”[ii]
The low-tech, outmoded pagers were being used because Hezbollah Chief Nasrallah had told his followers to ditch their cell phones because the Israelis were using them to track and target members. Hezbollah began to discover that the pagers were compromised so the Israelis felt forced to activate the booby-trapped devices immediately, and not wait until the eve of an invasion of southern Lebanon. Foreign reports blamed Mossad and Israeli Intelligence for the attack.[iii]
The next day, the tech-attacks continued. On Wednesday, the New York Post reported “thousands of radios and other devices used by the terror group were detonated across Lebanon, killing at least nine people and leaving more than 300 wounded.”[iv] By Thursday, Hezbollah leadership had ordered the destruction of their remaining communication equipment.
Reported casualties are high and growing. Official Lebanese sources reported “35 dead and 3,250 injured.” Amir Tsarfati quoted unofficial sources saying “over 5009 injured and one hundred dead…..hundreds of terrorists are expected to not survive.” In addition, “Iran has evacuated 95 wounded Iranian officers from Lebanon who were involved in the ranks of Hezbollah and were left without eyes, arms, legs and private members as a result of pager and radio explosions. Among them is Iran’s ambassador to Beirut, Mujtaba Amini, almost blind, who is heading to Tehran for further treatment.”
While Iran and its’ terror-proxies are enraged against Israel and are promising revenge in vague form, some Arab nations have been encouraged by the attacks. Amjad Taha, a political strategist for the UAE, posted this on X. “You dared to strike at a smart and courageous nation on October 7th—committing genocide, kidnapping their children, and violating their women. You thought they would fall, but they rose again, returning after 11 months to correct what had only momentarily slipped—their intelligence. Now, they will send you back 1,000 years, to a time without technology, where a ringtone feels like a death knell and a beep is a nightmare. You will be haunted by your own shadow, too afraid to use any technology, cut off from the advanced world. And they will defeat you—not with bullets or tanks, but through the unbreakable will of brave, intelligent people. Over a simple cup of coffee, with one decisive click, they will seal your fate, and the fate of anyone who dares harm their children. This is a nation the world respects.”[v]
ISRAEL ON THE MOVE
It now appears that Israel will soon begin to move into southern Lebanon. On Wednesday, the Israeli War Cabinet gave their approval to an invasion by the IDF. Massive convoys had already been moving toward their northern border. Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei has already said that Tehran has no choice but to stand with Hezbollah. Hezbollah says it will not cease to fight until Gaza is free. It was announced that Israeli battle plans have been approved for the Northern Front. And US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, officially informed Congress that an imminent ground invasion of Lebanon by Israel is “highly likely.”[vi] [vii]
Meanwhile, Israel continues to conduct combat operations. Flying hundreds of sorties in the last few days, the IAF struck 100 rocket launchers in southern Lebanon as well as “Hezbollah structures and weapons storage facilities.” These have been among those that have been launching rockets against northern Israel.[viii] On Friday, Israel took out “about ten” Hezbollah commanders, including Ibrahim Aquil, Head of Hezbollah’s Operations Unit. After the operation, Israel’s Chief of Staff announced, “The Hezbollah commanders we eliminated today planned the ‘October Seventh’ on the northern border for years. We reached them and we will reach anyone who threatens the security of the citizens of the State of Israel.”[ix]
[i] Israel sets new war goal of returning residents to the north, BBC, September 17, 2024
[ii] How Did Thousands of Pagers Used by Hezbollah Explode at the Same Time?, Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2024
[iii] Mossad, IDF intel. planted Hezbollah pager explosives – foreign reports, Jerusalem Post, September 18, 2024
[iv] Thousands of Hezbollah’s handheld radios explode in second wave of remote-detonated attacks, NY Post, September 18, 2024
[v] Amir Tsarfati, Posts on Telegram, September 19, 2024
[vi] U.S. SecDef Alerts Congress “Israel Going-in to Lebanon”, Hal Turner Radio, September 19, 2024
[vii] From various headlines found on the Hal Turner Radio website, September 19, 2024
[viii] Air Force strikes 100 launchers aimed at Israel, YNet News, September 19, 2024
[ix] Amir Tsarfatti, September 20, 2024
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