Austin Bay: Discreet Mass Offensive War: Israel’s Grim Beeper Attack

Reuters reports that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has begun examining all of its equipment for “evidence of explosives.” If correct, that’s a fascinating but understandable response – to examine not just communications equipment and other electronic devices, but all equipment, including vehicles and, I suspect, ammunition supplies as well.

Why the panicked mass reaction from the heavily armed Iranian military and intelligence organization that oppresses the Iranian people, supports and supplies Iran’s proxy armies, and routinely vows to destroy Israel and America?

We thank Israel’s ingenious wireless pager, which carried out a “discreetly targeted, simultaneous mass bombing attack” on employees of Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese proxy terrorist militia, on September 17.

If “discrete” and “mass” seem contradictory, they are descriptively contradictory.

Hezbollah leaders decided to use pagers to alert personnel as Israel monitors more sophisticated cellphones. Somewhere in the pager supply chain, Israeli employees inserted a detonator and a small amount of explosives into each device. A coded message from Israeli agents turned the pagers into small grenades.

Death in disguise. Michael Doran of the Hudson Institute called the devices a “Trojan horse for the digital age.” He also called the explosive-laden pagers “Grim Beepers.” Kudos to Doran for his graveyard joke.

Hezbollah has been at war with Israel since the 1980s, carrying out terrorist attacks and currently bombarding Israel with rockets, missiles and artillery shells. Like Hamas, Hezbollah terrorists also use human shields – they hide among the civilian population.

A Hezbollah militiaman carrying a pager linked to high-ranking Hezbollah commanders is in some sense a terrorist leader – a very legitimate target.

The published victim numbers are questionable. It appears that over three dozen people were killed and around 3,500 injured in the attack. Some of those killed and wounded were not Hezbollah fighters – but the vast majority were.

Two-thousand-pound aircraft bombs explode far less discreetly. Entire city blocks become craters.

It appears an explosive pager injured the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon. This is clear evidence that he was part of Hezbollah’s command and control network. Grim Beeper pagers exploded in Damascus, Syria. IRGC officers and Hezbollah thugs operate in Syria. No doubt they thought they were safe.

Which leads to another target: the trust of Hezbollah personnel. High-ranking executives passed the killer pagers on to their subordinates. A day later, several Hezbollah radios exploded—even more distant Trojan horse detonations. Can Hezbollah fighters trust their commanders? Even fanatics can have moral problems.

Discreet targeted simultaneous mass bombing attack. The combination of “discrete” and “mass” is an oxymoron – a figure of speech that combines seemingly contradictory words. I remember my fourth grade teacher saying that “bittersweet” was an oxymoron.

The Grim Beeper attack was very discreet – it was a targeted attack on terrorist commanders and tactical leaders. But it was also a near-simultaneous mass attack that hit targets across a wide area in Lebanon and Syria.

For at least three decades, military analysts have warned that we could face a massive cyberattack that simultaneously disables communications nodes, power generation facilities and computerized transportation infrastructure.

This attack scenario dates back to 2008. Digital malware infects a dam’s computer system and takes control of the higher-level operating system. The infected computer opens the dam’s gates and causes a destructive flood. The malware breaches the dam with plausible sophistication, rather than the detectable mess that a high-explosive bomb leaves behind.

Booby traps are as old as warfare. The Trojan Horse was booby-trapped by Greek soldiers. Malayan Mancatchers and Punji Sticks kill quite effectively when encountered in the jungle. A poisoned desert well is a booby trap. In anticipation of thirsty GIs, retreating Wehrmacht troops booby-trapped French wine bottles.

In Vietnam, the CIA and Special Forces booby-trapped North Vietnamese Army bullets and mortar shells – Project Eldest Son (1967-69). Green Berets stocked NVA ammunition boxes with exploding bullets and grenades. The grenades would explode, wounding or killing NVA soldiers. The operation was directed against the personnel and morale of the NVA.

But these discrete booby traps were not simultaneous mass attacks over a large area.

Now the IRGC is inspecting all of its equipment. Vehicles have batteries that can explode on command. The ammunition may have been sabotaged. “I am calling Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Call Ayatollah Khamenei.”

Austin Bay is a columnist and author.

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