The wave of synchronized pager explosions in Lebanon was “reckless” because the method did not account for potential civilian casualties, Edward Snowden has said.
At least ten people were killed, including a child, and some 2,800 injured across Lebanon when handheld pagers used by Hezbollah members simultaneously exploded on Tuesday. The pro-Palestinian militant group has blamed Israel for “sinful aggression” and vowed to retaliate.
Israel has not acknowledged any involvement in the blasts. The Jewish state, however, has conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah members in the past and threatened more “military action” if the group does not stop its cross-border attacks on Israelis.
Writing on X on Tuesday, Snowden suggested the pagers had likely detonated due to “implanted explosives” rather than being hacked because there were “too many consistent, very serious injuries.”
“What Israel has just done is, via *any* method, reckless,” the former NSA contractor argued. “They blew up countless numbers of people who were driving (meaning cars out of control), shopping (your children are in the stroller standing behind him in the checkout line), et cetera. Indistinguishable from terrorism.”
Sky News Arabia cited its sources as saying that the Israeli spy agency Mossad placed “a quantity” of the highly explosive material PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) in the batteries of the pagers, and remotely detonated them by raising the temperature of the batteries. The rigged devices were reportedly part of a shipment that arrived in Lebanon earlier this year.
The Lebanese authorities said civilians were among those injured. France 24 cited a Hezbollah source as saying a 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member was killed. The group acknowledged on Wednesday that eight of its members had been killed, according to Sky News Arabia.
Former IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus pushed back against accusations that the explosions were tantamount to “indiscriminate” attacks.
“Indiscriminate?? This is as surgical as you could possibly get, only targeting Hezbollah operatives that were important enough to have been issued special comms devices,” he wrote on X. He added that Hezbollah has been “attacking Israel for over 11 months, forcing 70K Israelis out of their homes.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday that “military action” would be necessary to ensure the safety of Israelis living in the areas close to the Lebanese border. US officials, however, have publicly discouraged Israel from taking steps that could trigger a full-blown war in Lebanon.