Consider This from NPR - Israel rigged pagers and radios to explode across Lebanon

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

Two unusual attacks against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah come at a time when negotiations over a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas have stalled. What could this mean for the region, and the threat of an all-out war? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On Wednesday, mourners in Beirut, Lebanon, gathered to bury a dozen people who had been killed the day before. Electronic pagers belonging to members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah exploded on Tuesday, killing those 12 people and injuring thousands. The attack was unprecedented, a sophisticated cyber operation. A U.S. official told NPR that Israel privately claimed responsibility. And while a funeral was underway, another blast. A word is going around that another blast has gone off from somebody's pager close by here. But the funeral is continuing. That is NPR's Jaina Raff, who was reporting in Beirut during the funeral service.

This time, communication devices used by Hezbollah had detonated. Across southern Lebanon, at least 14 people were killed and hundreds injured. Consider this. Two unusual attacks come at a time when negotiations over a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas have stalled. What could this mean for the region and the threat of an all-out war? We'll have the latest when we come back. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Consider This from NPR. Two attacks a day apart against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have left dozens dead and thousands wounded.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attacks. A U.S. official told NPR that Israel has privately claimed responsibility. On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant hinted at the excellent achievements by Israel's military and intelligence branches. He said Israel was at, quote, the beginning of a new era in this war. NPR's Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv to bring us the latest. Hi, Daniel. Hi, Elsa. So I want to walk through some of the things we've learned about these two enemies, Hezbollah and Israel, over the past 24 hours. First, can we just talk about these pagers? Because we learned yesterday that Hezbollah uses old school beepers to communicate. Why? I had no idea. Yeah, actually, Hezbollah is led by a shadowy figure named Hassan Nasrallah, and he was worried

that his group's operatives' cell phones were being spied on. This was not a secret. This was said in a televised address that he gave from a hideout in Lebanon, and his message was to his military operatives, get rid of your cell phone. Nasrallah said, please break it, bury it, lock it up in a metal box, do it for a week, two weeks, a month. These, referring to the cell phones, are deadly spies. Now, his speech was back in February, and around that same time, Hezbollah switched to beepers. That is according to Amir El Sabayla. He is a Jordanian security expert with contacts inside Hezbollah. We spoke today. And he says this is all in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel last October 7th. A day later, October 8th, Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel. Israel has since regularly targeted Hezbollah militants inside Lebanon. And so Hezbollah has been concerned that Israel has actually tracked

its men and its people through their smartphones. And so they switched to pagers. But wait, what does Israel gain from these explosions happening now in particular? Well, Israel's leadership, remember, has not officially claimed responsibility for these pager explosions. But Israel's defense minister, even just a few days ago, warned that military action was the only way to stop Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and to allow tens of thousands of Israeli civilians to be able to return to their homes safely near the Lebanese arena. He said that Israel is allocating resources and forces there. And he said we are at the start of a new phase in the war. Well, what do you think the likelihood is of Hezbollah retaliating now? We're hearing from security experts in the region that actually Hezbollah has taken such a big hit with these latest explosions that it may not have the capacity to initiate a retaliation now.

First, its communications have been hijacked. Thousands of its operatives are wounded. There is likely very deep suspicion within Hezbollah that could spark a lot of questions about who may have collaborated with Israel to booby-trap these pagers. And Amr al-Sabaila, the Jordanian security expert, said Hezbollah may just not be in a position to attack now. You don't know the level of infiltration and what's next surprise Israel is preparing for you.

And this means that going to war in such conditions might be a suicide recipe for Hezbollah. And what we know now, Elsa, is that Israel is not only fighting a conventional war against Hezbollah with airstrikes. We are now seeing a much more mysterious kind of subterfuge. That is NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Daniel. You're welcome.

The Israeli attacks in Lebanon have sent diplomats scrambling to head off a wider war in the Middle East. That's something Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been worried about for much of the past year. NPR's Michelle Kellerman is traveling with him in Cairo. Secretary Blinken was just boarding his plane to Cairo when pagers started exploding in Lebanon. His trip was meant to focus on relations with Egypt, a key regional partner and a key player in ceasefire talks for Gaza. But Egypt's foreign minister, Bado Abdel-Ati, warned that Israel's latest actions against Hezbollah threatened the whole region. He spoke through an interpreter. Any unilateral actions towards the escalation must be condemned and is totally rejected and does not

encourage any stability. Such dangerous escalation can lead to what we have warned from before, which is moving to the edge of a comprehensive regional war. A comprehensive regional war, he warned. Secretary Blinken has been trying to prevent that for months now, arguing that if Israel and Hamas can reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, then things would quiet down in northern Israel and Lebanon. But he says the Gaza ceasefire talks have been challenging and take time. Time and again, we've seen that in the intervening time, you might have an event, an incident, something that makes the process more difficult, that threatens to slow it, stop it, derail it. Blinken pointed to the recent killing by Hamas of six hostages, including an American,

as one example of an incident that has derailed the talks on a ceasefire and hostage release. He stopped short of directly criticizing Israel for the attacks in Lebanon, which have overshadowed this, his 10th trip to the region since last October. He didn't explain why he's not going to Israel this time around, though he sounds frustrated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not shown political will to get a Gaza deal done. Blinken says the U.S. has put forward some ideas to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas. They are clearly resolvable, but the key ingredient to getting a resolution of these outstanding issues is political will.

That's what we're both looking for going forward. That's what's so imperative that we're going to get the ceasefire across the finish line. His Egyptian counterpart was more downbeat, predicting that the Israeli attacks in Lebanon will set back efforts to reach a deal in Gaza. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Cairo. This episode was produced by Catherine Fink with audio engineering by David Greenberg. It was edited by Tinbeat Armias, James Heider, and Jeanette Woods. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

And one more thing before we go. You can now enjoy the Consider This newsletter. We still break down a major story of the day, but you'll also get to know our producers and hosts and some moments of joy from the All Things Consider team. You can sign up at npr.org slash consider this newsletter. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.