A New Dimension of Warfare in Lebanon:
This is the most bizarre incident that has struck Lebanon to date: pagers have been detonated which has not only led to the deaths of many but also brought new questions to the format of security threats in the region. At first glance this event, which left 3,000 people injured because of the blasts, appears anomalous, but it has quickly expanded to a possible flashpoint potentially involving the main players of the region, namely Hezbollah, Israel and Iran.
The Incident: What Happened?
The attack which took place in Southern Lebanon affected areas that are considered to be the safe heavens of the Hezbollah party. The use of pagers as explosive has caused a lot of concern because in today’s world this type of attack is uncommon. Pagers which are more often looked at as relics of a bygone era have almost never been seen as Weapons of Mass Destruction. However, in this case, these devices were said to have been fitted with explosives or chemical agents to go off at the same time thus causing many causalities.
Newspapers also said that around 3000 persons were injured from the blast, from the ordinary citizen to the members of Hezbollah even some commanders. The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon who happened to be in the at the time was also injured, but according to latest reports his condition is now stable.
Obviously, the origin of the attack has not been identified, and many have been quick to point the fingers. In a statement issued shortly after the blasts, Hezbollah accused Israel as being behind the attack. This accusation has worsened an already sour relations between Hezbollah and Israel which have been bitter enemies for a number of years.
Hezbollah’s Function and Israel
Conflict is not new for them. The Iranian backed Shiite militant organisation has continuously been in conflict with Israel and the last full scale confrontation was in 2006. After that both the party have been prepared vigilantly and occasional firing has taken place in the Israel and Lebanon border. Hezbollah’s military wing which possesses sophisticated weapons stock and a firm foothold in south Lebanon has had a significant influence in the regional balance of power, especially in relation to the regional conflict, the Syrian civil war, more generally in the Iran- Israel conflict.
Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in the wake of the attack to his forces gave out orders to his troops, which included the non-use of mobile phones. This move is considered to be directly related to issues of communications security and the fact that there are speculations regarding vulnerabilities of Hezbollah technological networks, which may have been exploited by Israel to stage the pager-based attack.
Nasrallah’s instruction not to use mobile phones depicts a realisation of the fact that communication is a major weakness in modern conventional warfare. Hezbollah’s forces have been very disciplined, and especially secretive; this attack proves that even such low technologies as pagers can be penetrating. They are now trying to extend the security even more, and this ban on mobile phones is also among the measures which the group is taking to secure their telephone conversations.
Iran’s Participation and the Danger to Tehran
The injury of Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon is quite a surprisingly important event. Iran that gives much financial and military support to Hezbollah has been regarded as the major Israeli arch foe. The fact that the attack involved an Iranian diplomat, raises more questions as more confrontation remains between Iran and Isreal.
The country has also been using pagers and other low technological communication tools especially within the military and the diplomatic service. The attack on Hezbollah made Iranian official worried by the weakness of their own communication infrastructure. It may cause Iran’s military and political leadership to reconsider their use of such a gizmo since both armies and hackers have targeted them.
The threat is not merely an invention of fiction as it happens in other novels. Iran is another country that has been on the receiving end of attacks from Isreal in the past through cyberterrorism and even covert physical terrorism that seen in the case of Stuxnet virus that compromised its nuclear centrifuges as well as assassination of key nuclear scientists. From this perspective, the pager attack could be also viewed as the subsequent stage of Israel’s activity directed against the Iranian influence in the Middle East by using non-conventional strategies.
Israel’s Alleged Role: Some of the Facts and Figures that are of importance in understanding the current socio demographic reality include:
Hezbollah has been blaming Israel for carrying out the attack but the Tel Aviv has not commented on the accusations. However, Israel has a trend of employing stealth and technology assaults on the perceived adversaries. Over the years, Israeli intelligence services especially Mossad has been accredited for several successes in both assassination and cyber warfare against Hezbollah and Iranian targets.
Israel has also invested on the electronic warfare platforms, which are used for blocking the communication networks and in conducting the remote control attacks on all target military complexes. In the case where Israel is the author of the pager attack then this means it came up with a novel way of weakening Hezbollah forces without necessarily engaging in a direct military confrontation.
The group was not directly identified to be from Israel but the attack seems to be in a series that is being used by Israel to destabilize Hezbollah in Lebanon. Since both the parties remain tense, any further aggression could lead to escalation of the situation, particularly if further proof in the Israeli involvement in the assassination surface. The SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE REGIONOCKENT1, Patrick E. AYAB5, Hafez G. Abdel The social implications of the global economic crisis for the Maltese islands The social implications of the global economic crisis for the Maltese islandsOJb,Jfcy `hifdopzpv to Adoption of Standard-Sized Buildings of Wallace in East Asia=’./’ Anticipate new realities of partnership with America
This fight is not only about Hezbollah and Israel; yes, it is also about the weakness of the situation in Lebanon which has become one of the scenes for regional actors. The attack raises several troubling questions: Will the Hezbollah respond? What is going to be Iran’s reaction in the event that its ambassador is attacked? But what will be the consequences for Lebanon’s rather unstable political landscape?
Lebanon is going through several crises at the moment; starting with a long, catastrophic economic crisis, to partial political crisis. The Beirut blast in August 2020 which leveled significant portions of the capital’s port and claimed more than three hundred lives underscore the tenuous nature of the political stability in Lebanon. This latest attack adds to the many troubles for Lebanon, which Hezbollah is likely to exact retribution against those that it deems caused the strike.
