Lebanon Pager Explosion triggering proxy war in the Middle East area

Imagine listening to music and suddenly receiving a beep on your phone. Assuming it's a regular notification, you lift the phone to your face—and in an instant, everything changes. This scenario played out tragically for over 3,000 people in Lebanon recently. Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah exploded, marking one of the deadliest incidents in Lebanon's recent history. The tragedy raised serious questions about the evolving nature of warfare, where technology is being weaponized in unprecedented ways.

- DR. S. KRISHNAN AND JAPJOT SINGH

Across Lebanon's southern regions, the explosions tore through neighborhoods, affecting Beirut's suburbs and the Bekaa Valley. According to Lebanon's health ministry, 20 people were killed, and more than 450 were injured. The explosion was not an isolated incident, as the previous day saw 12 more fatalities, including two children, and thousands more were injured. This deadly sequence, triggered by explosive devices planted in pagers, shocked the nation. Security sources linked the attack to Israel's spy agency, Mossad, marking a significant security breach for Hezbollah, one of the region's most formidable armed groups.

When Israel attacked Hezbollah last week by unleashing a spate of synchronized explosions in Lebanon and Syria, the first response of many observers—wherever they sat on the geopolitical spectrum—was of awe. Adversaries and friendly nations alike marveled at the degree of sophistication needed to pull this off. Not only did agents working for Israel have to place tiny amounts of explosives inside of pagers and walkie-talkies; they also had to get these into the hands of a sworn enemy. The feat was a reminder of Israel's long history of technical and operational sophistication that includes its victory against a coalition of Arab armies in the 1967 Six-Day War, the raid on Uganda's Entebbe Airport to free hostages captured in the hijacking of a commercial airliner in 1976, and the use of booby-trapped cellphones to attack militant groups that dates back to the late 1990s.

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