Exploding device attacks dealt major but not crippling blow to Hezbollah: Analysts

Beirut, Sep 19: The waves of remotely triggered explosions that hit pagers and walkie-talkies carried by Hezbollah members in grocery stores, on streets and at a funeral procession this week made for an eerie and shocking spectacle.
Analysts said Hezbollah will be able to regroup militarily and find communications workarounds after the attack, but the psychological effects will likely run deep.
The explosions – widely blamed on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement – killed at least 37 people, including two children, wounded more than 3,000 and deeply unsettled even Lebanese who have no Hezbollah affiliation.
The detonating devices hit workers in Hezbollah’s civilian institutions, including its health care and media operations, as well as fighters, dealing a blow to the militant group’s operations beyond the battlefield. It is not clear how many civilians with no link to Hezbollah were injured.
The attacks also exposed the weaknesses in the low-tech communications system the group had turned to in an attempt to avoid Israeli surveillance of cellphones.
Retired Lebanese army Gen. Elias Hanna described the attacks as the “Pearl Harbour or 9/11 of Hezbollah”.
Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Centre think tank who researches Hezbollah, said that because the blasts hit people across the group’s institutions, the attack was “like a sword in the guts of the organisation”. Hundreds of people were severely wounded, including many who lost eyes or hands.
“It will require time to heal and replace those who were targeted,” he said.
But Hage Ali and other analysts agreed that the loss of manpower is not a crippling blow. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said the group’s fighting force numbers more than 100,000, meaning that the attack – as dramatic as it was – would have put only a small percentage of its militants out of commission even if all those wounded and killed were fighters.
Qassim Qassir, a Lebanese analyst close to Hezbollah, said the detonating devices actually struck mostly civilian workers within the group and not military or security officials, which has allowed it to contain the impacts on its war effort.
Hezbollah, which is Lebanon’s strongest armed force, has exchanged fire with Israel’s military almost daily since October 8, the day after a deadly Hamas-led assault in southern Israel triggered a massive Israeli counteroffensive and the ongoing war in Gaza.
Since then, hundreds have been killed in strikes in Lebanon and dozens in Israel, while tens of thousands on each side of the border have been displaced. Hezbollah said its strikes are in support of its ally, Hamas, and that it will halt its attacks if a cease-fire is implemented in Gaza.
Death toll from device explosions rises to 37
The death toll in explosions targeting pagers and handheld radios across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday has risen to 37, whereas the injuries came at 2,931, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said on Thursday.
Tuesday’s pager explosions in Lebanon killed 12 people, with 2,323 others injured, Abiad told a news conference, adding that 226 people injured on Tuesday are still hospitalised.
Meanwhile, the death toll in explosions of wireless communication devices across the country on Wednesday afternoon rose to 25, with injuries up to 608, Abiad said.
A total of 64 hospitals received the injured, Xinhua news agency reported.
“It’s the humiliation of having such an operation, it shows how much the organisation is exposed to the Israeli intelligence,” she said.
Lebanon bans pagers, walkie-talkies on all flights from Beirut
Lebanon’s civil aviation authorities have banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all airplanes departing from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
The measure announced Thursday comes after such devices, mainly used by members of the militant Hezbollah group, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing dozens and wounding 3,000 people over the past two days.
The authorities called on all airline companies to inform passengers using the airport that carrying pagers and walkie-talkies onto jets is banned “until further notice.” It added that authorities will confiscate such devices found with passengers. (Agencies)