A chilling new wave of terror has spread across the globe, as the explosion of small, seemingly harmless pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon and Syria has left authorities and citizens alike in a state of heightened fear and uncertainty.
While intelligence communities work tirelessly to uncover the identity of the alleged mastermind behind this sinister plot, with suspicions pointing to Israel as the possible culprit, a disturbing reality has become clear: the days of predictable, timer-equipped bombs are over.
The latest tactic employs an unsuspecting object—even an ordinary TV remote—to unleash destruction, leaving anyone, anywhere, vulnerable to a potentially catastrophic attack.
The Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet had placed Yahya Ayaash at the top of their most wanted list.
On January 5, 1996, Yahya Ayyash, a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) bomb expert, while traveling in a bus, called his father from a Motorola phone. When his father took the call, Ayaash asked, “How are you, father?” Those were the last words of Ayaash.
The phone exploded literally in his face. He was killed. The Motorola phone was gifted to Ayaash by his university friend Osama Harnad. Osama’s uncle Kamal Harnad was a Shin Bet informant who had it rigged with an explosive chip, which could be activated remotely. A small Israeli aircraft was orbiting the bus in which Ayaash was traveling.
The bombing has been mentioned to illustrate Israel’s determination to eliminate every terrorist by whatever means — some of which cannot even be conceived of by the rest of the world.
Many of these devices are a rare combination of technology and surveillance. However, most people in the world hardly know about this effective, potent, and amazing weapon of asymmetric warfare.
It is not the number of casualties or the injured that is of consequence; it is the morbid and continuous fear of the unknown that makes this mode of operation an unbelievable success. Anything, anytime, anywhere can explode.
This was the assassination story carried by The Independent in 1996.
Last June, he got in touch with me and asked to live in my house in Beit Lahiya,” says Osama, who was at first suspected of being behind the assassination and was arrested by the Palestinian security police. Osama says that, at the time, he was working for his uncle, Kamal Hamad, 43, a successful building contractor and “I told him [Ayyash] I was not sure that my uncle was ‘clean’.” Kamal gave Osama a mobile phone – the number is now known to be 050-507497 – to keep in touch.
Kamal Hamad asked his nephew for the phone, which he later returned. It was almost certainly at this moment that the 2oz radio-controlled bomb was inserted. Osama says: “At 9 am, the cellular phone rang. It was Yahya’s father who asked to speak to him.
I handed him the phone and heard him ask how his father was. I left the room to leave him alone. Five minutes later, I returned because I thought he had finished his conversation. I saw Yahya lying on the ground, covered in blood. He had no head. I was in shock. I called Hamas people and told them. They arrived quickly and took the body.”
Kamal Hamad has disappeared, leaving behind his Mercedes and his grand house of cream-colored stone. The Israeli press speculates that for betraying Ayyash, he received $1m (pounds 650,000), a fake passport, and a visa to the US.
He has left many Palestinians shocked that the Islamic movement was so deeply penetrated by Israeli intelligence.
Four days after Ayyash was killed, Israelis are waiting to see if Hamas will retaliate. The West Bank and Gaza have been sealed off, stopping Palestinians from entering Israel.
In Rafat, the brothers of Ayyash were receiving condolences from a long line of bearded students from Bir Zeit University near Jerusalem. “I can’t predict if there will be revenge attacks,” said a friend of the Ayyash family.
In theory, the martyrdom of an Islamic hero is a matter of rejoicing, symbolized by the plate of dates being handed out to the mourners in Rafat. “He only sought Paradise,” said the family friend. “He expected this to happen.” Nevertheless, his death at the hands of a Palestinian collaborator in a safe house in the heart of autonomous Gaza has deeply shocked Palestinians.
Israel’s New Technique
Nearly 28 years later, on September 17, 2024, Israel (allegedly) attempted the same technique to decimate its enemy — with unbelievable success — the Hezbollah.
A few thousand pagers held mostly by Hezbollah fighters exploded simultaneously on a relatively quiet afternoon in Lebanon, injuring nearly everyone holding them and even killing a few. A day later, walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah met the same fate.
The pertinent issue that emerges is: How did the Israelis or some other entity manage to place the explosives inside the pagers/walkie-talkies meant for use by Hezbollah? Of far greater significance than technology is the intelligence operatives’ ability to intercept the ‘supply chain’ of the equipment.
It is nothing short of a marvel of technological innovation that the entire shipment of pagers intended for Lebanon was intercepted, and the explosive was placed with a suitable chip connected to regular pager operations. This issue has opened Pandora’s Box.
Undoubtedly, Israel has managed to surprise Hezbollah; however, inadvertently, it has also unintentionally let out the “genie.” Every invention/modification of equipment invariably reaches the anti-national elements sooner rather than later.
India imports a huge amount of electronics from China. Nearly identical items are imported to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and neighboring countries. There is no way to identify the ‘virginity’ of the supply chain either by distributors or buyers.
Even if the devices are taken apart and inspected, which one will have an “explosive chip” embedded in it and be impossible to find? The world still does not know the effect of a virus called Trojan Horse. It is a ‘sleepy’ virus embedded in chips that can be activated by the manufacturer by a simple command.
The India-specific chances of such attacks are huge. Most of the drone components, for instance, are imported from China. Now, is the message clear enough, or does it need amplification?
Every conceivable electronic gadget can be embedded with an explosive chip that can be activated remotely. The risk is no longer confined to mobiles and pagers, which can be used as miniature bombs. Ordinary chargers, toys, computer games, etc., to mention a few, might be the next option; perhaps it is already happening.
General Paul Miki Nakasone, a four-star general of the US Army who headed the United States Cyber Command and retired from his post in February 2024, opined: “The perpetrators had an incredible ability to do targeting intelligence to be able to know the numbers, know who’s got them, [and] know the periodicity upon which they’re using them. A major concern now is how those types of hijacks could end up inside U.S. consumer products or devices. One, if this was a supply-chain [attack], I think about our supply chains and what we need to be able to do to ensure their integrity. The second piece is: if it wasn’t a supply-chain attack, how was this conducted?”
Indeed, Israel (supposedly) has achieved huge tactical success without firing a single bullet but in the process has ‘released a genie that can never be put back in the bottle’.
Israel has, albeit inadvertently, given the terrorists an ultimate weapon of carnage, stunning capability, and disaster. Every technological innovation/invention has already been used by terrorists except nuclear detonation.
The immediate effect will be on air travel. Perhaps, one option will be to ban the carriage of mobiles while flying by air. But that will never happen. Another option will be to remove the batteries from mobiles and ban the carriage of any form of batteries.
You can read EurAsian Times’ analysis on the future of Air Travel post Pager blasts.
Overall, E-Detonation is here to stay.
Be prepared for Happy, Stressful Years ahead! When, where, and what will explode in one’s face cannot be determined but will happen with amazing regularity. The days of tiffin, toy bombs equipped with timing devices are over. Now, an ordinary TV remote can do the job.
- Gp Cpt TP Srivastava (Retd) is an ex-NDA who flew MiG-21 and 29. He is a qualified flying instructor. He commanded the MiG-21 squadron. He is a directing staff at DSSC Wellington and chief instructor at the College of Air Warfare.
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