To say that Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon, has gone through a rough couple of days would be a massive understatement. The group—which runs Southern Lebanon as its own personal fiefdom, boasts tens of thousands of hardened fighters and possesses as many as 150,000 rockets in its inventory—is confronting a degree of internal chaos that its leadership isn’t habituated to experiencing.
On Sept. 17, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members across Lebanon exploded simultaneously in what is very likely an operation conducted by the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency. More than 2,700 people were injured, including Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, and at least 12 people were killed in the explosions. The next day, a second wave of attacks occurred, this time targeting the handheld radios Hezbollah uses in the field. The attacks caused panic in Lebanon; the country’s Ministry of Public Health told hospitals to remain on maximum alert status to cope with the injuries. U.N. personnel in Lebanon were advised to remove the batteries from their phones as a precautionary measure.
By Hezbollah’s own admission, the presumed Israeli operation was the “biggest security breach” the group has ever witnessed.
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