Second Wave of Israeli Cyberterrorism Hits Lebanon

Hezbollah Vows ‘Difficult Reckoning for Criminal Enemy’

Date: 18 September 2024 - 22:31

News ID: ۱۳۱۵۱۷

BEIRUT (Dispatches) --
Hezbollah on Wednesday carried out a series of missile and drone attacks against Israeli settlements in the northern parts of the occupied Palestinian territories as more handheld radios detonated across Lebanon, in the latest cyberterrorism by the Zionist regime.
According to Shahab news, sirens were heard in different parts of the northern occupied lands, especially in Kiryat Shmona.
The retaliatory operation came as walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon in an apparent second wave of attacks targeting electronic devices a day after hundreds of pagers blew up, state media and Hezbollah officials said. At least nine people were martyred and more than 300 people wounded in the second wave, the Health Ministry said.
The cyberterrorist attacks, which were widely believed to be carried out by the occupying regime of Israel, have hiked fears that the simmering conflict could escalate into all-out war.
Speaking to Zionist troops on Wednesday, Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are at the start of a new phase in the war.”
In Wednesday’s attacks, several blasts were heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child martyred by exploding pagers the day before. In the southern coastal city of Sidon, a car and a mobile phone shop were damaged after devices exploded inside of them. A girl was hurt in the south when a solar energy system blew up, the state news agency reported.
The new blasts hit a country still roiling with anger after Tuesday’s terrorist bombings, which caused many civilian casualties. Tuesday’s bombings martyred at least 12 people, including two children, and wounded some 2,800 others.
The second wave also deepened concern over the indiscriminate casualties caused in the attacks, in which hundreds of blasts went off wherever the holder of the pager happened to be — in homes, cars, at grocery stores and in cafes, often with family or bystanders nearby.
While the pagers were claimed to be used by Hezbollah members, there was no guarantee who was holding the device at the time of the blast. Also, many of the casualties were not Hezbollah fighters, but civilians mainly serving Lebanon’s mix of Shia, Sunni and Christina communities.
At least two health workers were among those martyred Tuesday. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, charity workers, teachers and office administrators had pagers.
The Associated Press said Israel briefed the U.S. on the exploding pagers after they went off.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, called for an independent investigation into the mass explosions. “The fear and terror unleashed is profound,” he said in a statement, urging world leaders to step up “in defense of the rights of all people to live in peace and security.”
Russia said the blasts are intentionally designed to “provoke a major war in the Middle East”.

“We regard what happened as yet another act of hybrid warfare against Lebanon, which has harmed thousands of innocent people. It appears that the organizers of this high-tech attack deliberately sought to foment a large-scale armed confrontation in order to provoke a major war in the Middle East,” said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
Hezbollah — Lebanon’s strongest armed force — and Israel’s military have exchanged fire almost daily since Oct. 8, the day after a deadly Hamas-led operation in southern occupied territories left Israel shell-shocked. Since then, hundreds have been martyred in Israeli strikes in Lebanon. Hezbollah said its strikes are in support of Palestinians.
Zionist leaders have issued a series of warnings in recent weeks that they might increase their aggression against Lebanon, saying they must put a stop to the exchanges to allow settlers to return to occupied territories near the Lebanese border. Israel began moving more troops to the Lebanese border on Wednesday, reports said.
In his comments, Gallant said that after months of the Israeli invasion of Gaza, “the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.”
As extremist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu huddled with top security officials at military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said plans have been drawn up for additional attack on Lebanon.
New details on the pager bombings began to emerge. An American official said Israel briefed the United States after the attack, in which small amounts of explosive had been hidden in the devices. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.
The AR-924 pagers used in Tuesday’s attack were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, which is based in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, according to a statement released by Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm that authorized the use of its brand on the pagers.
Gold Apollo’s chair, Hsu Ching-kuang, told journalists Wednesday the firm has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years. “But the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” Gold Apollo said in a statement.
At the headquarters of a building in a residential neighborhood of Budapest, the names of multiple companies, including BAC Consulting, are posted on pieces of paper on a window.
A woman who emerged from the building and declined to give her name said the site provides headquarter addresses to various companies.
BAC’s parent company is registered to Cristiana Rosaria Bársony-Arcidiacono, whose describes herself on her LinkedIn page as a strategic advisor and business developer.
The attack in Lebanon started Tuesday afternoon, when pagers in their owners’ hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.
The Health Ministry said health care workers and two children were among those martyred. In the village of Nadi Sheet in the Bekaa Valley, dozens gathered to mourn the martyrdom of one of the children, 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah.
Her mother, wearing black and donning a yellow Hezbollah scarf, wept alongside other women and children as they gathered around the little girl’s coffin before her burial.
Hezbollah said in a statement Wednesday morning that it would continue its normal strikes against Israel as part of the support front for Palestinians in Gaza.
“This path is continuous and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre on Tuesday,” it said. “This is another reckoning that will come, God willing.”
“We are absolutely certain of victory,” said the movement.