Hezbollah getting what they deserve

[ditchman]

24 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Apparently the Lebanese Army is destroying loads of suspect electronic devices

the women are not going to be happy..

[martinj]

58 minutes ago, ditchman said:

the women are not going to be happy..

OUCH!

[Raja Clavata]

6 hours ago, Flashman said:

Iran is the only State player causing trouble across the world - not just for Israel. 
Just before 7 Oct., Saudi and others were going to sign long-term  recognition and cooperation deals with Israel. That was delayed by the Iranian-instigated attack. 
Changing the regime in Iran solves a lot of problems, including stopping war supplies to Russia and oil smuggling to China. 
In purely strategic terms, why the Yanks don’t see this as a better fight - hiding behind Israel - than taking on China in the Pacific and Russia via Ukraine, is beyond me.  

I assume you are referring to the Normalization Agreement between the Saudis and Israel? It's a poorly kept secret that they have been collaborating for over 60 years against common enemies. 

I don't know the latest details of the agreement but had always understood that the key point of contention to concluding the agreement was the Palestinian issue. As is always the case in that region, the whole thing is complicated but the Israelis are seeking public recognition of their ties to the Saudis and in return the Saudis want assurances and support from the US, but maybe I'm overly simplifying it.

On paper, wouldn't the events of October have brought the two together or did the Saudis not appreciate the impact the IDF response had on the general Palestinian population in Gaza?

By regime change in Iran, I assume you mean the Ayatollah. Again I'm no expert but I figure the supreme leader gig in Iran is pretty well established and it would be impossible to go back to the days of the Shah?

In terms of US involvement, surely they've had their fingers burnt enough in the region recently. Whilst Hezbollah exist they are a deterrent to Israel going head to head with Iran, there's no such balancing forces in Ukraine or Taiwan.

Without going off-piste, I would not be surprised if some kind of deal has been done by the US and China on Taiwan in the background, it will be interesting to see what happens when the new TSMC factories in the US are fully up and running.

Edited September 19 by Raja Clavata

[Flashman]

40 minutes ago, Raja Clavata said:

I assume you are referring to the Normalization Agreement between the Saudis and Israel? It's a poorly kept secret that they have been collaborating for over 60 years against common enemies. 

I don't know the latest details of the agreement but had always understood that the key point of contention to concluding the agreement was the Palestinian issue. As is always the case in that region, the whole thing is complicated but the Israelis are seeking public recognition of their ties to the Saudis and in return the Saudis want assurances and support from the US, but maybe I'm overly simplifying it.

On paper, wouldn't the events of October have brought the two together or did the Saudis not appreciate the impact the IDF response had on the general Palestinian population in Gaza?

By regime change in Iran, I assume you mean the Ayatollah. Again I'm no expert but I figure the supreme leader gig in Iran is pretty well established and it would be impossible to go back to the days of the Shah?

In terms of US involvement, surely they've had their fingers burnt enough in the region recently. Whilst Hezbollah exist they are a deterrent to Israel going head to head with Iran, there's no such balancing forces in Ukraine or Taiwan.

Without going off-piste, I would not be surprised if some kind of deal has been done by the US and China on Taiwan in the background, it will be interesting to see what happens when the new TSMC factories in the US are fully up and running.

1. Optics: deal signed during a war.

2. Plenty of potential replacements amongst the diaspora, once the Revolutionary Guard goes the way of the dodo.

3. Using Israel as the proxy (like Ukraine vs. Russia) avoids direct conflict. 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Massive air strikes over night, Israeli Air Force aiming for the rocket launch sites, production and storage areas.

[Mungler]

Iran is a weird one. You look at the photos from the 70’s and the pictures of the modern society and women in mini skirts and contrast with the Stone Age nonsense of now. 

What is weird is that each generation has mothers, wives and daughters and yet their subjugation continues - I hoped there would be a tipping point with the last young women raped and beaten to death by the morality police. Indeed, interesting aspects to bear in mind for those who cheer on the supporters of the stone age in that region.

Interesting parallels between Iran and what is happening here and now in the UK. The woke left will inadvertently elevate, protect and empower the religious loons and when the religious loons get a foothold in power they’ll come for the woke left. Nothing new happens anymore - it’s just history repeating but with a change of names, territory and time. 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

18 minutes ago, Mungler said:

Iran is a weird one. You look at the photos from the 70’s and the pictures of the modern society and women in mini skirts and contrast with the Stone Age nonsense of now. 

What is weird is that each generation has mothers, wives and daughters and yet their subjugation continues - I hoped there would be a tipping point with the last young women raped and beaten to death by the morality police. Indeed, interesting aspects to bear in mind for those who cheer on the supporters of the stone age in that region.

Interesting parallels between Iran and what is happening here and now in the UK. The woke left will inadvertently elevate, protect and empower the religious loons and when the religious loons get a foothold in power they’ll come for the woke left. Nothing new happens anymore - it’s just history repeating but with a change of names, territory and time. 

Yes just the "cast list" names change

[12gauge82]

5 hours ago, Mungler said:

Iran is a weird one. You look at the photos from the 70’s and the pictures of the modern society and women in mini skirts and contrast with the Stone Age nonsense of now. 

What is weird is that each generation has mothers, wives and daughters and yet their subjugation continues - I hoped there would be a tipping point with the last young women raped and beaten to death by the morality police. Indeed, interesting aspects to bear in mind for those who cheer on the supporters of the stone age in that region.

Interesting parallels between Iran and what is happening here and now in the UK. The woke left will inadvertently elevate, protect and empower the religious loons and when the religious loons get a foothold in power they’ll come for the woke left. Nothing new happens anymore - it’s just history repeating but with a change of names, territory and time. 

Good post. 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

From CNN:

"Israel carried out part of its device attack targeting Hezbollah by concealing explosives inside the batteries of pagers brought into Lebanon, according to two high-ranking Lebanese security officials, who said the technology was so advanced that it was virtually undetectable.

Lebanese security officials watched a series of controlled explosions of some of the weaponized pagers, as investigations into who manufactured the wireless communication devices and how they made their way into Hezbollah’s pockets continued.

The pagers used in the controlled explosions were switched off at the time of the attack on September 17, which meant they did not receive the message that caused the compromised devices to detonate. The officials had a front-row seat to see just how catastrophic the blasts would have been to those carrying the devices and others around them.

Thousands of explosions struck Hezbollah members last week, targeting their pagers on Tuesday, and then walkie-talkies a day later. In all, the blasts killed at least 37 people, including some children, and injured nearly 3,000, according to Lebanese health authorities, many of them civilian bystanders. The attack blindsided the group, which had opted for analogue technologies after forgoing cell phones to avoid Israeli infiltration.

Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, but CNN has learned that the explosions were the result of a joint operation by Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, and the Israeli military. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, tacitly acknowledged his country’s role the day after the pager attack, praising “excellent achievements, together with the Shin Bet, together with Mossad.” Both Lebanon and Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the attacks.

One of the Lebanese security sources told CNN the way in which the explosive material had been hidden inside the pagers’ batteries was so sophisticated that it could not be detected, but did not elaborate further as to what sort of checks the devices had gone through before entering the country.

The second high-ranking security source said that he had examined one of the compromised pagers and witnessed its controlled explosion. He told CNN that the explosive material was “laced” inside the pager’s lithium battery and virtually undetectable. He added that he had never seen anything like it.

An improvised explosive device has five key components: A power source, an initiator, a detonator, an explosive charge and a case to put it all in. Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert, said that only a detonator and explosive charge would have been needed to weaponize the pagers, which already have the other three components.

“It had to be done in such a way to make it invisible,” Moorhouse said, adding that one way to do that could have been modifying the battery itself – implanting an electronic detonator and small explosive charge inside of its metal casing, which would have made it impossible to detect with imaging, for example X-rays.

Other experts who reviewed footage of the blasts also said that explosive devices appeared to have been hidden in the pagers, suggesting a sophisticated supply chain attack involving a state actor.

That tallied with initial assessments by Lebanese authorities. Lebanon’s mission to the United Nations said in a letter sent to the UN Security Council last Friday that a preliminary investigation found that the communications devices were implanted with explosives before arriving in the country, tampered with “in a professional way” by “foreign entities.”

Lebanese authorities determined that the devices were detonated by sending electronic messages to them, according to the letter, which was seen by CNN. Israel was responsible for carrying out the attacks, which detonated thousands of devices simultaneously, Lebanon’s UN mission said.

Mysterious supply chain stretches from Taiwan to Hungary
Multiple photos from the aftermath of last week’s attacks in Lebanon show remnants of the exploded pagers – also known as beepers – that were consistent with a model made by a Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, and fragments of walkie-talkies identified as the make of a Japanese firm, ICOM.

Lebanese authorities have said that the devices used in the attacks were Gold Apollo Rugged Pager AR-924 pagers and ICOM IC-V82 walkie-talkies. Both Gold Apollo and ICOM have distanced themselves from the compromised devices.

ICOM said that the IC-V82 model was discontinued a decade ago, and it could not determine whether the devices targeted in Lebanon were counterfeit or shipped from its company. Counterfeit versions are widely available for purchase on e-commerce websites, like Alibaba. Lebanon’s communications ministry said the IC-V82 radios used in the attacks were not supplied by a recognized agent, were not officially licensed and had not been vetted by the security services.

International investigative efforts have largely zeroed in on the Gold Apollo AR-924 pagers – tracing the model’s licensing and manufacturing from Taiwan to apparent shell companies to try to establish how the Israeli operation may have been carried out. The New York Times reported, citing three intelligence officers briefed on the operation, that Israel had set up at least three shell companies to disguise the identities of those making the pagers – Israeli intelligence officers.

The chairman and founder of Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, Hsu Ching-kuang, was questioned by Taiwanese prosecutors last Thursday before being released."