Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

621–630 of 1001 posts

Re: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

#621

Post by shprd »

lelanthran wrote: post #529
113 wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> legitimate military targets during a time of war Israel and Lebanon are not at war.

> Israel and Lebanon are not at war. Maybe not, but the combatants holding those devices were at war, no?

> but the combatants holding those devices were at war, no?

The attack wasn't as targeted as you seem to think. It also hit health workers and bystanders. Approx half the casualties are civilians (including children).

According to Humans rights watch: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/18/lebanon-exploding-pagers...

> Thousands of pagers simultaneously exploded across Lebanon and parts of Syria on September 17, 2024, resulting in at least 12 deaths, including at least two children and two health workers, and at least 2,800 injuries, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

Re: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

#622

Post by apelapan »

helpfulContrib wrote: post #449
pdabbadabba wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it should not be considered terrorism to the extent that the attack targeted legitimate military targets during a time of war — broadly speaking, combatants and other parts of the organization that affect its ability to wage war. Terrorism, at least least in my view, is an attack that either intentionally targets civilians or is truly indiscriminate, and is aimed at producing political cha age by causing fear…

[flagged]

Not wearing a uniform when you participate in war doesn't make you an illegitimate target, it makes you an illegal combatant.

Re: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

#623

Post by anthk »

dralley wrote: post #517
tsimionescu wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attacking millitatns while they are in the middle of civilians, especially when they are not doing that as part of some hostage/human shield operation, is not OK.

[flagged]

Tell that to the seriously injured practicioners, children and civilians.

Re: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

#624

Post by longbrass »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #450
Arch485 wrote: post #192

I'm genuinely curious: how is this not considered terrorism on Israel's part? (or is it considered terrorism?) From a tactical standpoint, this is very similar, and the only big difference I see is that this is technologically more advanced/more complex than just planting a bomb or something. If it's not terrorism, what is the differentiating factor(s)? *side note: I'm quite sure other western countries have used tac…

I'm not convinced this was a terror attack and I think Israel is within its rights to target Hezbollah, but here's a question: If the assailant and target were reversed, would Western media hesitate at all to call it terrorism? Or, forget Hezbollah and Israel. If ISIS had detonated thousands of explosive devices all over, e.g., the UK injuring and killing hundreds of UK military personnel and some civilians, would th…

If the IDF were to detonate the rockets Hezbollah uses to explode before launch would this be different? What about gps devices or range finders?

Without a doubt it’s asymmetrical… and the common binary is military/terror but I fear this is a distinction left to the last century.

The loss of children is always unacceptable, but Hezbollah has a history of courting child soldiers… so skepticism is not unwarranted.

https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/cscoal/2008/...

Re: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

#627

Post by Scoundreller »

kotaKat wrote: post #62

At this point someone needs to run an SDR and start capturing as much RF spectrum as possible, especially on any communications device that has a 'selective calling' feature. The pagers could have been set off with a page sent to a 'group' capcode in a hidden slot with a unique beep pattern that a little tiny MCU picked up and set off the detonator. Radios -- same thing. Possibly a group calling feature of a signalli…

> especially on any communications device that has a 'selective calling' feature.

I wonder if it’s even dumber than that. Entirely separate from the paging network and tuned to listen for a pulse at a specific RF frequency and then blow up.

Also gives the ability to target certain geographic areas.

But even if listening to pager spectrum, the paging network is incredibly insecure. Anyone could send out fake pages with the right RF setup (e.g. from a drone).

Re: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

#628

Post by anthk »

wood_spirit wrote: post #323
guytv wrote: post #178

while blowing up a one-way comm device might make sense to intel agencies and countries, I am curious about the decision to blow up hand-helds instead of listening in on them undetected.

Day one, blow up the pagers. Everyone stops using pagers. Day two, blow up the backup device that Hezbollah had fallen back to using. Perhaps on day three, now that Hezbollah has no effective communication and coordination and might even fall back to mobile phones, start ground ops?

Day 4, Hezbollah uses pen/papers disguised as recipes shared between women with token words and procedures.

Re: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

#629

Post by anigbrowl »

edanm wrote: post #562
pvaldes wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The reports say that these devices were specifically part of shipments that went specifically to Hezbollah. Which makes sense - I don't think the US Army is using the same walkies that a random hospital in the US uses, for example.

It's far too early for anyone to know that with certainty. And (for what feels like the nth time), Hezbollah is not just a bunch of guys with weapons, it's the civil administration in large parts of the country.

Also if the situation were reversed and Hezbollah carried out an attack like this on the IDF, I really doubt the Israelis would just suck it up and say 'oh well occupational hazard of military life, guess we'll retaliate somehow.'

Re: Hezbollah hand-held radios detonate across Lebanon, sources say

#630

Post by anthk »

orionsbelt wrote: post #228
OutOfHere wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This was a deliberate targeting of terrorists, Negative. Anyone can use a pager or a walkie talkie. If this were to have happened in say the US, it would 100% be considered not only terrorism, but an act of war.

Who is using a pager or walkie talking in 2024? I will admit there was maybe a few bystanders standing too close to a Hezbollah member, but how many non-Hezbollah members do you think really had one of these pagers? Keep in mind Israel also does surveillance and probably tracked where they went. If it turns out a material % of these were owned by civilians, I might agree with you, but I suspect that’s not the case.

In the 3rd world, any hospital.
Post reply on HN