Photo: AFP/ Anwar Amro
September 19, 2024: A BBC story said no electronic device would be considered safe from now on, and that assumption is not limited to Lebanon, which has just endured the second wave of explosions with walkie-talkies now the hidden dangers.
If explosives can be placed neatly in small devices like pagers or walkie-talkies and triggered simultaneously just like that, there practically is nothing terrorists cannot do.
Don’t mingle with people who are possible targets, said the old-school self-protection manuals when it came to terrorism. Don’t go to crowded areas during a sensitive time. Stay away from garbage containers. Avoid suspicious-looking objects and alert the authorities when you see one.
That is changing rapidly and drastically. Terror is coming home, so to speak.
September 18, 2024: The simultaneous pager explosions in Lebanon can change the complexions of many things _ normal trades, war trades, trust among countries, how military battles are fought, and the way you look at seemingly-harmless delivered packages or even your laptops or mobile phones.
Theories will abound, but the bottom line is that any innocent-looking object can be deadly. Whoever did it have managed to combine an ancient tactic _ poisoning or booby-trapping _ with the latest technology, newest knowledge and the abilities to mass-produce, infiltrate companies and make forged and lethal stuff look real and innocuous in great numbers.
The whole attack must have been planned for months, requiring the highest level of expertise, penetration, patience, precision and forgery skills. Some of the pagers must have passed through sensitive detectors unnoticed.
If militants who have to be on alert or paranoid around the clock can’t detect hidden dangers or tell devices that help from the ones that kill, who are we to be able to?
Daily updates of local and international events by Tulsathit Taptim
