One of the greatest guerrilla warfare counterstrikes of all time, bar none, was the brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed Israeli pager operation that, in two waves, effectively wiped out thousands of the terrorist group's operatives.
On 17 September, 2024, thousands of pagers distributed by Hezbollah to its operatives in Lebanon and Syria exploded. On the following day, hundreds of walkie talkies used by Hezbollah operatives also exploded. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, more than 30 people were killed in both attacks and thousands were injured (most of the casualties appear to have been Hezbollah operatives, but a few civilian casualties were also reported, including two children who died in the attack). While no State acknowledged responsibility for these explosions, media reports have strongly suggested that Israel is responsible for them.
OMG, thinking about it makes me smile like a Cheshire Cat to this day. What a masterstroke of patience, cunning, and meticulous planning.
And I remember so well our collective state of 'What?!' as it was happening. Watching some of the world's worst, most savage, barbarous people dissolve into a terrified pack of sheep, with everyone at first wondering what the hell was going on.
I went back and checked on some of our posts as things were beeping and blowing, and they were so memorable.
Ed: Paging Hezbollah: War About to Erupt for Northern Israel; UPDATE: 9 Dead, 2800 Injured
David: Heads Explode Along With the Pagers
Ed Again: Hezbollah: We Bought Pagers From Some New Outfit
Our precious Jazz: I Specifically Requested a Pager Without Explosives
And it didn't take long, in the midst of all the videos flooding in from Lebanon, for knowing the answer to become so urgent: 'Who could have pulled this off?!'
Of course, we knew.
There could be only one answer.
ISRAEL
Naturally, the Israelis weren't talking.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had urged his fighters and bagmen to switch to low-tech beepers, walkie-talkies, and pagers out of fear that the Israelis were tracking cell phone signals and using those for targeting.
Israel needed to be able to get at these terrorist troops, but they lived among the Lebanese people, especially in the suburbs around Beirut. The certainty of mass civilian casualties if the Israeli armed forces went in after them was too great a risk for Netanyahu's government to take, so they looked for another way to infiltrate the verminous nest.
There was one overarching focus:
WHAT COULD REACH THE NETWORK?
The low-tech, high-trust terrorist communications seemed like the avenue of opportunity.
So the Israelis went to work, and it didn't happen in weeks or months - it took 15 years to come to fruition. Not only did they have to identify targets, but also build every last component and puzzle piece from the very beginning, infiltrate Hezbollah supply chains, build trust with trading intermediaries, and with international firms that had no idea who they were really dealing with.
Until I saw the trailer, I had no idea it had taken that long.
If there had been a slip at any juncture, the game was up. Oh, gracious - I can't imagine the pressure.
The entire enterprise was fraught with danger at every turn, and 'Paging Hezbollah' makes clear that, after so many years carefully invested, the window to act was rapidly closing because of the terrorist organization's growing suspicions.
The determination and dedication are simply a testament to the Israelis' ardent, never-ending defense of their country against an intractable enemy.
'Paging Hezbollah' tells the complete, astonishing story for the first time, with interviews that include Bibi Netanyahu and David Petraeus, plus footage, of how the Israelis built that astonishing 'modern-day Trojan horse' that changed everything.
The pager operation was reported around the world in an instant. But the story behind it did not begin in an instant, and it cannot be understood through headlines alone.
Paging Hezbollah follows the years of pressure, planning, and decisions that brought this moment into focus. We wanted to look past the spectacle and ask the harder questions: What does it take to build an operation like this? Who carries the weight of deciding when it is used? And what changes after the signal is sent?
This film is an investigation into the people and choices behind a story the world thought it already knew.
THEY TURNED THE ENEMY'S SAFEST DEVICES INTO ITS GREATEST VULNERABILITY
This looks like a whale of a documentary about a story that still strikes me as so incredible in this day and age that it beggars belief.
And yet, they did it.
Dang.
'Paging Hezbollah' will be out in theaters on 30 October.
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