When pagers and walkie-talkies exploding in Lebanon shook Hezbollah, the whole world was taken by surprise other than Israel and of course the US/CIA, which undoubtedly was privy to the plan. The death toll in the blasts has risen to 37 till now and thousands have been injured (mostly maimed and some blinded) that include both Hezbollah and civilians. Planning by Mossad for these most secretive, elaborate, and covert operations began a few years ago when Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah began propagating that Hezbollah should shun the use of cell phones that could pinpoint their locations by Israel’s sophisticated technology to hack into phones, activating microphones and cameras remotely to spy on their owners. Pagers, therefore, came into wide use by Hezbollah.
Initial speculation was that Mossad had infiltrated the supply chain and inserted explosives into the pagers and walkie-talkies. But now it emerges that Israel established the company ‘B.A.C. Consulting’ in Hungary, which was under contract to produce the electronic devices on behalf of ‘Gold Apollo’, a Taiwanese company. According to intelligence inputs, Israel established at least two other shell companies that were created as well to mask the real identities of the people producing the devices. BAC posed as international pager producers and began shipping pagers to Lebanon in 2022 – both to Hezbollah and the general public in thousands.
It is being said that each battery of the electronic meant for Hezbollah contained three grammes of PETIN explosive but this could have been for all pagers shipped to Lebanon because collateral damage is given scant thought in such cases, as witnessed from the war in Gaza.
Planning by Mossad for these most secretive, elaborate, and covert operations began a few years ago when Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah began propagating that Hezbollah should shun the use of cell phones that could pinpoint their locations by Israel’s sophisticated technology to hack into phones, activating microphones and cameras remotely to spy on their owners.
Israel triggered the pagers to beep and sent a message to them in Arabic that appeared as though it had come from Hezbollah’s senior leadership. The resulting mayhem was facilitated with thousands of pagers in use in Lebanon, since not only had Nasrallah banned use of cell phones, he had ordered Hezbollah officers to carry pagers at all time and in the event of war, tell fighters where to go using pagers and walkie-talkies that are wireless but use batteries.
The coordinated simultaneous explosions, in the case of pagers and walkie-talkies the next day, had a stunning effect in Lebanon, albeit with civilian casualties also in hundreds, including doctors in hospitals who use pagers. The Israeli Chief of Staff has said, “We still have many capabilities, at every stage we operate, we are already 2 stages ahead. At every stage, the price in Hezbollah should be high. We will make it so that terrorists will be afraid of going to the toilet and even eating food.”
But Hezbollah, together with Hamas and Houthi, is not likely to be deterred. Following the explosions of the electronic devices, Israel is undertaking aerial bombardment of Lebanon while Hezbollah is firing rockets into Israel and Nasrallah has challenged Israel to invade Lebanon. Hezbollah also has an elaborate tunnel network and Israel suffered many tank casualties when it attempted to invade Lebanon a couple of years back. There is fury in Lebanon and the wider region that Israel’s attacks ignored collateral casualties – bystanders and family members who have been wounded and killed alongside Hezbollah cadres.
Israel also continues bombing and operations in Gaza, as well as attacks in the occupied West Bank. Iran is yet to carry out its promised response to Israel killing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. While fears of a wider Middle East war are becoming stronger, the US, the UK, and France are making fake noises that they do not want “escalation.” The opposite is actually true. Moreover, the belief in the US is that there can be no ceasefire till Joe Biden remains the President of the US.
The coordinated simultaneous explosions, in the case of pagers and walkie-talkies the next day, had a stunning effect in Lebanon, albeit with civilian casualties also in hundreds, including doctors in hospitals who use pagers.
Being the puppet of the American deep state, Biden appears to be pushing for WW3 by escalating the war in Ukraine. We may witness an acceleration of war in Ukraine and a wider Middle East war before the US presidential election or in its immediate aftermath. Tensions in the Middle East are high, with Saudi Arabia saying for the first time it won’t recognise Israel without Palestine. Barack Hussein Obama is vociferously supporting Kamala Harris as the next President of the US. Earlier, Obama had himself explained how the Obama Foundation and George Soros destabilise nations and what their activities are in India.
The United Nations has condemned the use of civilian electronic devices for these attacks. Actually, this has opened the Pandora box for weaponising everything that uses batteries, whether for individual or for collective use. The fallout of this will also be that most nations and the Middle East in particular will shun the electronic devices made in the West. China says the demand for its electronic devices has already shot up exponentially overnight.
This will further damage Western economies, which are already facing recession, what with Volkswagen closing shop in Germany and Boeing in deep dive because of the US-NATO war on Russia using Ukraine as proxy.
We may witness an acceleration of war in Ukraine and a wider Middle East war before the US presidential election or in its immediate aftermath. Tensions in the Middle East are high, with Saudi Arabia saying for the first time it won’t recognise Israel without Palestine.
China has been watching western operations studiously since decades and is far ahead in certain types of operations. When the book ‘Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Master Plan to Destroy America’ was published in China, it shocked the US, with their analysts and strategists taking two years to coin the terminology “Hybrid Warfare’. If China has not gone in already to weaponise electronic devices with which Israel attacked Lebanon, it certainly should be expected to do so. As it is, China’s cyber prowess is well established, as its propensity to insert trapdoor malware at the manufacturing stage in cell phones, laptop and other possible devices.
Where does all this leave India? There is considerable rejoicing that India has jumped to Tier 1 in the Global Cyber-Security Index (GCI) 2024, released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recently. At the same time, worrisome threats highlighted in the ITU report included ransomware attacks targeting government services and other sectors, cyber breaches affecting core industries, costly system outages, and breaches of privacy for individuals and organisations. However, a top cyber-security expert in India has this to say regarding the GCI 2024 report. “It’s a sham in trying to make 46 countries happy. Even Pakistan is in Tier 1 …… earlier there was individual ranking but some countries did not like being left behind, hence this broad-banding.”
China has been watching western operations studiously since decades and is far ahead in certain types of operations. When the book ‘Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Master Plan to Destroy America’ was published in China, it shocked the US, with their analysts and strategists taking two years to coin the terminology “Hybrid Warfare’.
The reality is that India is high on rhetoric about cyber-security but has done little by way of executing credible defensive measures, leaving aside building offensive cyber-security capabilities. Israel has mapped out the locations and histories of all Hezbollah and Hamas operatives, as well as their complete infrastructure. But what about India? Colonel Hunny Bakshi wrote on X: “30k Samsung phones purchased; Project ‘Sambhav’ has all the signs of an Intel operation. The mapping of the IA leadership locations would be comprehensive. I had raised the flag a few months back. Unless we own our own, no one is safe. BSNL network is based on Chinese equipment”.
At the manufacturing stage, we don’t even have a 100% check of imported items for embedded malware. Most CCTVs, including in many sensitive areas, are Chinese or Chinese-origin, being cheap – the curse of L1 and corruption. How many China-manufactured drones are in India? The prime minister recently spoke about India exporting toys all over the world. Why then are Chinese toys still coming to our markets? Furthermore, we have permitted Chinese investments in the electronics sector and relaxed visa requirements for Chinese technicians. It is hilarious to hear the external affairs minister feel happy about China not being given a larger stake in ventures and Chinese denied important posts – but doesn’t this indicate we have little understanding of how China works in the first place?
The reality is that India is high on rhetoric about cyber-security but has done little by way of executing credible defensive measures, leaving aside building offensive cyber-security capabilities. At the manufacturing stage, we don’t even have a 100% check of imported items for embedded malware. Most CCTVs, including in many sensitive areas, are Chinese or Chinese-origin, being cheap – the curse of L1 and corruption.
India is perpetually in the election mode and the sole focus of politicians is how to win more votes. With issues like whether or not animal fat is used in preparing Laddus for Tirupati Temple hogging headlines, there is little chance of them thinking how we can use electronics against our adversaries. But the least that we must ensure is that A to Z components of our electronic devices are indigenous.
-The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.
The author is an Indian Army veteran. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
