Straight News: Mr. Chen, Lebanon has two rounds of communication equipment explosions in two days, first on pagers and then on walkie-talkies. Is it considered a terrorist attack? What will be the consequences?
Special Commentator Chen Bing: These two rounds of communications equipment explosions were reportedly carried out by Israel agents. Israel's closest ally, United States, believes Israel is responsible. Two rounds of explosions, the first of which was a pager, killed 12 people and injured nearly 3,000 people, including two children, most of whom suffered facial injuries, especially eyes, and some had their hands or fingers blown off. This was followed by an explosion over the walkie-talkie, killing 20 people and injuring more than 450 others. Although the targets of the attacks were members of the Lebanon Allah Party, they were in fact indiscriminate attacks, and it was impossible to establish a strict target, and they were attacks regardless of the occasion, the scene, or the target, with explosions in shops, streets, and cars, with children, women, and adult men as victims. Therefore, the UN secretary general was shocked and Israel did not dare to admit it, United States the former CIA official lamented that this trick probably no other country can do, even if it is United States.
It's really horrible. It is much more serious than a one-way attack with the positioning of a communication system, such as the killing of Chechen armed leader Dudayev, or a hacking operation through the Internet, such as the United States and Israel attacking Iran's military computers with computer viruses, resulting in the damage to 1,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges. Israel's behavior has not only led to a new "supply chain war" by invading the core supply chain of its opponents, but has also caused many people to have deep doubts about foreign products, and who knows if the next explosion will be their own mobile phones, computers or whatever.
As former United States secret agent Snowden said, the pager explosion has made everyone in the world more unsafe, "If one day the factory iPhone is stuffed with explosives, the media will understand better what a terrible precedent is happening today." These two rounds of bombings have brought fear not only to the Lebanon people, but also to the world. There is a fear that electronics from foreign countries will be more worried, and may even affect international trade. As a direct consequence of the two bombings, Israel intensified hatred with the Lebanon Allah Party, and the Allah Party's allies also took the opportunity to fight back. Iran strongly condemns the act, and Russia is justified in criticizing Israel for provoking a large-scale armed conflict with high-tech attacks. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has not yet ended, and it may ignite the flames of war between Israel and Lebanon, and the fuse of the Middle East war will be sneering.
Straight News: There are reports that the pager that was detonated is a trademark of Taiwan, and the walkie-talkie is a Japanese brand, but Taiwan manufacturers and Japan companies have denied it, saying that they have not manufactured it. So who exactly made these communications devices with explosives?
Special commentator Chen Bing: Until now, I really don't know how exactly the miniature bombs were implanted into pagers and walkie-talkies, and it cannot be ruled out that Israel counterfeited the brands of Taiwan and Japan, nor does it rule out that Israel agents replaced the parts in the process of transporting the products. In short, this matter needs to be investigated in depth, but it may eventually become a "headless case" unless the people involved in the installation of explosives come forward to break the news. The most serious problem here is supply chain security. According to the information we have so far, this batch of equipment, which was newly manufactured, was shipped to Lebanon this spring. The supply chain for manufacturing pagers and walkie-talkies is very long, including component suppliers, assembly processes, logistics and transportation, and radio paging systems, which involve many links and have to pass through the hands of many people. It is very complicated to know exactly which link is the problem.
Former United States agent Snowden revealed that the United States National Security Agency often uses commercial goods in logistics and transportation, especially at airports, to monitor recipients. Freight security has not improved over the past decade, suggesting that United States has an opportunity to manipulate its supply chain, but what about Israel? Just as easy. This brings us to broader supply chain security. If there is a conflict between the two countries, or if there is strategic competition, will it be "bad" through the supply chain of certain products? Especially if you don't have some key components and can't be self-reliant, how do you find a balance between normal business exchanges and national security? These issues are easier said than done, and they are serious challenges for all countries in the future, not just Lebanon.
Straight News: For many people, pagers and walkie-talkies have become antiques, why are the Lebanon Allah parties still using them?
Special Commentator Chen Bing: The pager is indeed an antique, for all of us, it was a communication tool in the early 90s of the last century, and now there is really no trace of it, only in memories. The walkie-talkie can be seen, mainly used by security personnel. Lebanon Allah Party is not incapable of using mobile phones, but to prevent leaks and insecurity caused by advanced communication tools. They relied heavily on pagers as a low-tech means of communication to evade Israel's location tracking. Pagers receive and display letters, numbers, or voice messages and are more difficult to track than cell phones. Because the phone is too "fragile", even if it is not turned on, it may be able to locate your location.
Since February, Allah has asked commanders and fighters to throw away their mobile phones or dismantle them and store them in specific locations to prevent infiltration by Israel's intelligence services. However, the order was given publicly via televised speech, so Israel agents knew that Allah might use less technical means of communication. Unexpectedly, Israel has planted miniature bombs in pagers and walkie-talkies, resulting in a large-scale attack on Lebanon.
Author丨Chen Bing