RIYADH: When communication devices (some used by the armed group Hezbollah) exploded in Lebanon killing 32 people (including children) augmenting chances of wider confrontation, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) proclaimed shutting down talk of normalisation with Israel.
After the year-long massacre (of 41,000 men, women and children) in Gaza and Lebanon, while delivering annual speech (on behalf of his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud) to the advisory Shura Council Council on Wednesday (18th September, 2024), Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made it clear that independent Palestine state was the condition for normalisation.
“The kingdom will not stop its tireless work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm that the kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that,” MbS said. It is pertinent to mention here that a year ago Crown Prince had announced that diplomatic ties with Israel were getting closer.
Exploding Pagers: Israel had managed to breach (Iran-backed) Hezbollah’s communication satellite system and due to its cyber attack 5000 lithium batteries fitted in the newly smuggled (AR 924) Pagers exploded at 3 PM (12 GMT) simultaneously across Lebanon, killing 14 (including 2 children) and injuring 3000 (Irani Envoy Mojtaba Amani lost one eye) on 17th Sept, 2024.
Incidentally, Hezbollah experts, despite through examination, failed to detect the presence of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN) in the Pagers and distributed the gadgets to the ill-fated members just a day before the attack.
It may be recalled that, even in a third world (non-developed) country like Pakistan, Pager was an in thing back in the 90s. So why was Hezbollah, instead of making use of cutting-edge technology, utilising Pagers?
Since, in the past, Israel had successfully traced and neutralised many Hezbollah leaders by hacking cell phones and cameras connected to internet, the militants opted to use easy-to-carry automatic paging communication devices to receive short messages, convinced that Pagers were untraceable.
When the Pagers beeped, Hezbollah activists (and others harbouring the device on them) touched or lifted in order to read the message they detonated injuring and killing the owner. The explosions continued for an hour.
Lebanon claimed that Mossad had injected a compound (2 ounces) of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN) into each lithium battery of the Pagers that were acquired from Gold Apollo, an entity based in Taiwan, months before they were detonated. However, Taiwan that has exported 260,000 Pagers in the last three years, does not harbour any records of sales to Lebanon.
Gold Apollo clarified that the units were made in Budapest by BAC Consulting KFT, a company having license to use its brand: “Our agreement permits BAC to use our trademark for specific regions, but the design and production are entirely their responsibility.” Furthermore, Hsu Ching-kuang, Founder and President of Gold Apollo, while talking to Media stated: “The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it!”
According to sources BAC Consulting was part of an Israeli front, that did not just put the explosives in the Pagers, but manufactured the device itself. When the Hezbollah chief said that Israel was gathering information about them through Cell Phones and other Hi-tech gadgets using internet, so they should rely on Low-tech equipment, Israel started working on the project that ultimately resulted into thousands of explosions in Lebanon.
Hezbollah said that Israel would be punished: “The resistance will continue today, like any other day, its operations to support Gaza, its people and its resistance which is a separate path from the harsh punishment that the criminal enemy (Israel) should await in response to Tuesday’s massacre”.
Exploding Walkie-Talkies: Thirty-seven people lost their lives, 650 got injured when Hezbollah’s Walkie Talkies (hand-held radios) were detonated late Wednesday (18th September, 2024) across the country’s south and in the southern suburbs of the capital.
Incidentally, as the members of Hezbollah were offering Namaz-e-Janaza of those who lost their lives in the Pagers’ explosions on 17th Sept, one or more Walkie Talkies were detonated in the premises. The Walkie Talkies were also procured by the militants five months ago when they had purchased those 5000 Pagers that exploded on Tuesday.
Newspakistan.tv
