Israel Sets Hezbollah's Pants on Fire
The first mistake Hezbollah made was ordering their pagers from Hooli.
Hezbollah acknowledged the vulnerability of its communication networks earlier in its escalating conflict with Israel, which began with the start of the war in Gaza in October last year. In February, the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, urged its fighters to get rid of their smartphones, saying Israel could use them for surveillance or targeting. A Hezbollah official said Tuesday that many fighters had pagers.
Many of the affected pagers were from a new shipment that Hezbollah had received recently, part of a nearly yearlong process to swap out older devices.
Early reports said that the pagers were manufactured by a company called Gold Apollo in Taiwan.
Gold Apollo’s president, Hsu Ching-kuang, told reporters on Wednesday that his company didn’t make the pagers in question and that they were manufactured by a foreign company that had licensed his company’s brand and trademark about two years ago.
Gold Apollo later issued a statement saying the pagers were designed and built by a company named BAC Consulting Kft, registered in Budapest. Calls to that company went unanswered. The person listed as the chief executive of BAC Consulting didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Hezbollah said a number of pagers carried by its members exploded simultaneously at 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday. Survivors reported hearing the pagers beep and display a series of numbers on their screens about five seconds before they detonated.
The actual story about how they did this is worthy of a movie. And no, it wasn’t just about making batteries overheat:
In today’s tech-obsessed world, the idea of some kind of mass cyber attack causing the pagers’ batteries to overheat or malfunction in some way sounds believable. It would fit with the current dystopian zeitgeist to learn that our mobile devices are not only destroying our attention spans but could also be turned into bombs.
Fortunately, from the point of view of ordinary pager and electronics users – not to mention their manufacturers – that does not seem to be what happened.
Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at the university of Surrey, said: “I’ve heard of Lithium ion batteries spontaneously igniting but to make it happen on demand is a different matter entirely.”
“Lithium battery fires and explosions are a general problem but this looks a bit more than this,” agreed Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a retired British Army chemical weapons expert.
“There must be some sort of ‘accelerant’ to make them combust in such a violent fashion – probably some form of high explosive, possibly 10 grams of HMX.”
HMX, also known as octogen, is a widely used military explosive. Mr Woodward guessed the attack might have used C4, another common military explosive.
Israel blew up thousands of two-way personal radios used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon in a second wave of an intelligence operation that started on Tuesday with the explosions of pager devices, two sources with knowledge of the operation told Axios.
The second wave of clandestine attacks is another serious security breach in Hezbollah's ranks and increases the pressure on the militant Lebanese group.
Lebanon's official news agency reported that at least three people were killed and dozens wounded in the explosions across the country.
The walkie-talkies were booby-trapped in advance by Israeli intelligence services and then delivered to Hezbollah as part of the militia's emergency communications system, which was supposed to be used during a war with Israel, the sources said.
Arieh Kovler in The Spectator.
To Israelis, the takedown of Hezbollah’s communications and so many of its operatives seemed like just the first move before a broader Israeli Defense Forces operation into Lebanon. However, no incursion followed. Instead, the ball appears to be back again in Hezbollah’s court as they threaten retaliation. Airlines are already canceling their flights to the region again.
So why did Israel reveal and trigger these pager-bombs now? Immediate speculation focused on a just-foiled Hezbollah plot to assassinate a “former military figure” inside Israel. Perhaps this was a response? But later reporting by Al-Monitor suggested that Hezbollah members were getting suspicious of the rigged pagers, and so Israel triggered them before the sabotage could be discovered, a “use it or lose it” scenario.
Ah, you hate to see it. No wait. You love to see it. Four Lions sequel incoming?
Kamala Continues To Lag Among Indie Voters
Gallup poll shows her underwater by 25 points:
Gallup poll: Favorability Ratings (shift from August)
Donald Trump
Favorable: 46% (+5)
Unfavorable: 53% (-2)
Kamala Harris
Favorable: 44% (-3)
Unfavorable: 54% (+5)
Among independents
Trump: 44-53 (net: -9)
Harris: 35-60 (-25)
#44 (2.5/3.0) | n=1,007 A | 9/3-15
Maybe that’s why CBS struggled to find Kamala voters in Nevada.
Tom Cotton is Trump’s Best Surrogate
And it’s not really close, given his willingness to go on any program to do battle.
An interview between CNN host Kaitlan Collins and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) became tense on Tuesday after Cotton repeatedly laid into Collins and accused her of misrepresenting a Senate vote to protect IVF.
“Senate Republicans today blocked a bill that would guarantee access to the very thing that a lot of them say they support,” opened Collins on The Source. “It’s also the very thing that we have heard from Donald Trump say that he supports. Democrats tried and failed again to pass that measure, which would guarantee access to IVF nationwide, and tonight they are using this vote to hammer Republicans who said no.”
After Collins introduced Cotton to the show, the senator responded, “Well, Kaitlan, first off, I have to correct almost everything you said in the lead-in there, almost none of which was accurate about this bill. First off, there’s no risk to IVF in this country. All 49 Republican senators, along with President Trump, support IVF. No state restricts or bans IVF.”
Collins shot back, “I didn’t say that in the intro, but okay, go ahead.”
Cotton continued:
You said that it had to guarantee access. Access is guaranteed in all 50 states right now. You also said that it was about IVF. It was about a lot more than IVF. This bill would mandate coverage for experimental, controversial procedures like cloning, or gene editing, or providing fertility treatments to men who think they’re women, whatever that means. It would also imperil religious liberty. I support IVF, as President Trump does. We also think that we should allow, say, Christian hospitals to operate fares as they see fit, according to the dictates of their conscience. Now it’s not surprising that Democrats don’t agree with that. They’ve long persecuted Christians, like the Little Sisters of the Poor. They wanted to provide contraception coverage for nuns, or they’ve harassed Catholics for going to traditional masses.
After Collins interrupted, “Okay senator, let’s stop you there,” Cotton snapped, “No Kaitlan, you’re not going to stop me there! Because you’re misrepresenting what the bill is about.”
Feature
Items of Interest
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Domestic
Garland promises exhaustive probe of latest assassination attempt.
DeSantis promises Florida will investigate assassination attempt.
House Republicans back anti-sanctuary city bill.
What’s next for Johnson’s short term funding effort?
Union that is backing Biden-Harris endorses Josh Hawley.
Sherrod Brown fights for survival.
Jon Tester in the fight of his career.
Trump is right about the trajectory of crime in America.
2024
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Softballs for Kamala at NABJ Q&A.
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J.D. Vance’s scapegoating strategy.
Harris and Trump campaigns both focused on Pennsylvania.
Kamala is a neocon in disguise.
Tech
Black teenagers twice as likely to be falsely accused of using AI.
Ephemera
“Scandal” cast reunites to support Kamala.
The Office’s gender-swapped Australia reboot.
Sean Diddy Combs documentary announced.
Josh Gad: I should never have used my real voice for Olaf in Frozen.
Podcast
Quote
“No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”
— Nathaniel Hawthorne