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the picture shows the "death pager" that has exploded frequently in lebanon recently.

on september 19, the asia times website in hong kong published an article titled "israel's death pager announces the emergence of a new tactic of technological warfare" with the subtitle "israel cleverly turns hezbollah's pagers into improvised bombs, possibly opening a new era of micro-technological warfare", written by gabriel honradar. the article is excerpted as follows:

israel has boldly waged a technological war, reportedly secretly orchestrating a stunning blow against hezbollah by turning its communications equipment into deadly weapons.

several media outlets reported that hezbollah's communication equipment exploded simultaneously, killing 12 people, including two children, and injuring about 3,000 people. the communication equipment had been tampered with, with a small amount of explosives placed next to the battery, and detonated by a remotely sent message.

hezbollah has accused israel, while israel has remained silent, as is its usual practice in similar incidents. in fact, the possibility that israeli intelligence services were involved in the production of these devices cannot be ruled out. the attack took place at a time of heightened tensions between israel and hezbollah.

it is reported that hezbollah, which uses pagers to avoid surveillance, seems to have suffered serious damage to its communication infrastructure. the iranian ambassador to lebanon was also among those injured.

disrupting an adversary’s supply chain is not a new tactic. during the vietnam war, for example, the military assistance command-vietnam studies and observation group (macv-sog) dropped small arms ammunition and mortar shells filled with explosives instead of gunpowder into adversary supply lines.

such rigged ammunition would explode when fired, destroying the gun and potentially killing or seriously injuring the gunner. in the case of more powerful ammunition, such as mortar rounds, the explosion could kill the entire mortar firing team.

israel’s recent attacks could be seen as an evolution of this tactic, combining the physical destruction of an adversary’s electronics by planting explosives with a synchronized cyberattack that detonates those tampered devices.

by monitoring the communications traffic of wounded hezbollah operatives after the attack, israel may also have been gathering intelligence on hezbollah’s activities and locations.

on a strategic level, israel's high-tech attack on hezbollah sends a message that it can strike at any time and in any place it chooses. the attack could be a warning to hezbollah not to force israel into a two-front war by going to war with israel and relieve pressure on hamas in the gaza strip. it also shows how deeply israel has penetrated hezbollah's supply chain.

the strike also fits into israel's preference for extraordinary targeted killings, which have included the alleged assassination of hamas leader ismail haniyeh in tehran using an unspecified projectile and the killing of iran's top nuclear scientist using a remote-controlled machine gun to hamper its nuclear weapons program.

however, israel's unconventional attack targeted not only hezbollah's leadership but also its rank-and-file members. israel chose to weaponize the group's commonly used pagers in an apparent effort to focus its attacks on specific individuals.

in other words, israel may be sending a message to hezbollah: even its rank-and-file members are not safe in their so-called safe zones in lebanon.

israel’s unconventional strikes could force hezbollah to consider alternative means of communication, perhaps making the group far less effective. the strikes could also force hezbollah to take a hard look at its supply chain, especially the channels that supply sophisticated electronics for drones and missiles.

on a tactical level, the strike likely struck a significant number of hezbollah members, inflicting heavy casualties and consuming a significant portion of its manpower at a time when hezbollah may be gearing up for an all-out war with israel.

yet, for all the technological advantages israel has over hezbollah, hamas, and iran, the main problem is that even the most cunning tactics or the most advanced military technology cannot defeat ideologically driven adversaries, especially when they are dispersed insurgent groups.

moreover, the israeli strikes demonstrated that any electronic device on a communications network could potentially be weaponized, opening up a new realm of warfare.

that has raised concerns that tampered equipment could end up in civilian hands, adding urgency to the military’s efforts to secure its supply chains, a difficult task in an interdependent, globalized world.