Pager bombs won’t stop Hezbollah

The killing of 12 people, including several Hezbollah members, and the wounding of thousands more when 5,000 pagers simultaneously exploded in Lebanon yesterday represents an obvious tactical triumph for Israel (or whoever carried it out). The sight of members of the Iran-supported Shia Islamist group suddenly collapsing in agony while performing mundane daily tasks was met with great amusement by the movement’s many enemies across the region. Displaying the somewhat gleeful and malicious humour which characterises all sides in the Levant, a variety of memes mocking the hapless victims of the grim beeper soon proliferated.  

Hilarity aside, the operation displays the extent to which Hezbollah has been thoroughly penetrated by its opposite number. The organisation will no doubt now undertake a thorough review of its security arrangements. It will be aware that the capabilities on display this week (and in the killings of high profile group officials such as Fuad Shukr and Mohammed Qassem al-Shaer over the past few months) can be activated in ways far more kinetic than have yet been witnessed.  

This episode has exposed Hezbollah’s vulnerabilities, and will bring reassurance to Israelis regarding the continued tactical flair and capacities of their security structures.