A Middle East expert has warned that Israel’s explosive attacks on pagers that members of Hezbollah used could be the first part of a pre-planned invasion of the Lebanon.
The two days of attacks targeting thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies have been widely blamed on Israel, heightening fears that 11 months of near-daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel will escalate into all-out war.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attacks, but an expert believes they could invade Lebanon’s southern region because disrupting communications is a priority in warfare.
Robert Riggs, a geopolitical risk consultant, told Daily Express US: “These attacks will have a large impact on Hezbollah’s ability to coordinate a response to Israel’s escalation by disrupting their communications network.”
Riggs said the disruption of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon is a crucial key to restoring their reputation as “a first line of credible deterrence” against Hezbollah and elevate Mossad’s success as an intelligence agency.
“The Israeli Mossad intelligence agency has a lot to gain by carrying out such an audacious operation in tandem with the IDF, primarily as a restoration of their reputation for top-level intelligence gathering after it was partially blamed for the October 7th Hamas-led attacks on Israel.”
The timing of these attacks coincides with a shift in Israeli’s posture vis-a-vis Lebanon, after Israeli leaders announced a new war objective to ensure the safe return of its residents displaced from their homes amid months of cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah along the northern border.
Hezbollah and Israel launched fresh attacks across the border as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah spoke for the first time since the mass bombing of devices in Lebanon and Syria that he described as a “severe blow” — and for which he promised to retaliate.
Riggs said: “By striking at the very heart of Hezbollah’s leadership and internal communication structures, the Israelis are sending a strong message to Hezbollah’s leadership to back down or else.
“The main goal of these attacks by the Israeli leadership is a first step in changing the security situation on the border between Lebanon and Israel by pushing Hezbollah back to the Litani river in south Lebanon, many kilometers away from the border, and thus make it less likely for Hezbollah to be able to threaten the Israeli border communities.”
