There was no shortage of memes and jokes earlier today as the news came out of Lebanon, news that somehow bested the Haniyeh assassination in Tehran a few weeks ago. Ten people were killed and a few thousand injured in what was a wave of pager explosions that targeted Hezbollah members all over Lebanon. As funny as the ‘dick pic’ references were, most injuries apparently were eye injuries. It is easy to picture a pager going off after which the owner picks it up to take a closer look at the message after which it explodes. And that is what also happened to Iran’s ‘ambassador’ to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, who lost one eye while his other was severely injured. The question as to why a member of the diplomatic corps was carrying a pager owned by a local terrorist group probably answers itself.
Make no mistake, this was a stunt of epic proportions and an even stronger argument to not ever pick a fight with the Israelis. At some point they will find you, whatever the means. And in retrospect, if you as an organization decide to no longer use trackable phones but good old fashioned pagers, you may have just opened the door to the most innovative and lethal tech retaliation the world has ever seen.
So yes, a move by Israel that will once more shift the dynamics of a war that is now comprising no less than seven fronts, see the image on top of the post. It all comes shortly after a ballistic missile attack from Yemen, ongoing attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon on Israel’s north with Israel delivering a counterpunch by attacking a weapons facility in Syria. All within the past few days.
It all comes at a time where Israel is still militarily active in Gaza where its two core objectives (free the hostages and destroy Hamas) have not been fully accomplished. And that is after a year of engaging in Gaza. A questionable record for sure and it is once more raising deep questions about the state of Israel’s political and military leadership.
Yet, it is gearing up for a necessary fight to finally change the lethal dynamics on its northern border which after yesterday’s pager explosions will enter an ever more dangerous phase. But in order to move the northern front into Lebanon it may well require a political re-calibration as Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is said to be strongly opposed to such an attack and rumours of his imminent sacking are circulating as result. Nethanyahu may appoint Gideon Sa’ar as his replacement. Sa’ar is actually a former rival of Nethanyahu and after failing to unseat the deeply unpopular PM and Likud leader a few years ago started his own new party, New Hope (Tikva Chadasha). He may now make a somewhat controversial political comeback to help Israel and its seriously unpopular prime minister wage a war that it cannot ignore and must win. A war on seven fronts is hard to sustain.