Hezbollah was caught off-guard by a cyberattack on the Lebanon terrorist organization pagers that wounded thousands of members.
Mid-afternoon on Tuesday, Hezbollah pages exploded across Lebanon.
The Lebanese organization had no idea what hit them.
Whoever planned and set up this simultaneous multi-front strike had doubtless been holding this capability in check for the right moment for months if not years.
Advances in hacking capabilities
In recent years, there have been tremendous advances in cell phone hacking capabilities, which can lead to real-world damage.
Already in 2009-2010, the US and Israel hacked and destroyed over 1,000 Iranian nuclear centrifuges.
The US later hacked a critical Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence-gathering naval vessel.
On May 9, 2020, Iran’s Port Shahid Rajaee was shut down, causing massive delays and economic damage for between weeks and months.
On October 30, 2021, 4,300 Iranian gas stations nationwide were hacked and shut down.
In the hard-hitting conflict of the 21st century, whoever wields the latest cutting-edge technological weapons can sometimes run circles around their otherwise formidable enemies.
Tuesday’s events occurred only hours after the Shin Bet revealed that Hezbollah had tried to assassinate a top Israeli ex-defense chief.
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The question of what the endgame is for whoever caused the simultaneous explosions remains. Will this be a knock-out punch on its own, or will this be a bloody hit that will still leave Hezbollah standing and the dilemma of war between Israel and Lebanon still up in the air, though possibly closer than ever?