By Athena Papakosta

It is hard to think of a more well-calculated attack designed to sow fear and what unfolded yesterday, Tuesday, in Lebanon was beyond imagination.

Hundreds of buzzers carried by members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah they exploded almost simultaneously across the country. Even in neighboring Syria. The explosions took place in supermarkets, barbershops, on the streets, in cars and even in homes. These may have been relatively minor in intensity but they inflicted serious injuries on hundreds and a major psychological blow against Hezbollah.

In the first images arriving from the country’s capital, Beirut, the injured were almost everywhere, even on the pavements with bloodstains and even on car doors.

A video circulating on Social Media shows a man selecting products in a grocery store when the bag he is carrying explodes, throwing him and others at the scene to the ground. At the same time, hospitals were filled with wounded almost immediately.

The “mysterious” incident came amid rising tensions between Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah.

A senior official, who was not named, speaking to the Reuters news agency, spoke of the “biggest security breach” the Shiite organization has suffered in a year of war, while, a short time later, Hezbollah made it clear that Israel would receive “just punishment of” blaming “the Israeli enemy as absolutely responsible for this criminal aggression that targeted, and, civilians”.

Israel, for its part, has made no comment with analysts and war experts now speaking of a well-coordinated operation with some not ruling out or even deeming Mossad involvement necessary. If this proves to be the case, then it will be a very significant escalation that could (transfer) the war from the south and the Gaza Strip, to the north and Lebanon.

While efforts to answer the question of what exactly happened and thousands of bombers detonated simultaneously are ongoing, scenario exercises and hypotheses are being conducted on the ways in which this unprecedented attack was possible. On the one hand, the possibility of sabotage before the delivery of the devices to Hezbollah is considered, and on the other hand, the possibility of electronic warfare.

Speaking to the Associated Press news agency, Alex Plitsas, a weapons expert at the Atlantic Council, says that “a lithium battery fire is a fact, but I’ve never seen it explode like this” adding that “it looks like a small explosive charge”. . He concluded that “this raises the possibility that Israel was aware of the delivery of the sirens to Hezbollah and managed to tamper with them prior to their delivery.”

Another possibility, the Associated Press reports, citing Yehoshua Kalisky, a scientist and researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, could be an electronic pulse, which “was sent from a distance, heated the devices and caused the explosion of them”. As he explains, “this is not a random action. It was thought out and deliberate.”

Similarly, a former British military munitions expert, who asked not to be named, told the BBC the devices could contain 10 to 20 grams of explosives inside a fake electronic component.

Israel does indeed make a habit of striking behind enemy lines. An indicative example is the extermination of the highest officer of Hezbollah, Fuad Soukr in a suburb of Beirut last July, just a few hours before the assassination of the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh in the heart of Tehran.

However, while everyone wonders if these explosions are a first taste of a larger attack, many note that sabotaging such a large number of buzzers requires time, intelligence and considerable expertise.

Already the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallahhad called on members of the organization to stop using smartphones in order to avoid the possibility of “Israeli hacking”, as Israel has the technology to penetrate these devices.

The British The Guardian in her analysis, she does not rule out the scenario that yesterday’s attack was a warning to the Iran-backed Hezbollah that “whatever you can do, we will do it better” and this because it was previously reported that the internal security service of Israel’s Shin Bet foiled a plot by the Shiite movement to kill a former senior Israeli defense official in the coming days.

At the same time, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahuhe repeated, addressing the special adviser of the American president, Amos Hochstein, that his country “will do whatever is necessary to ensure its security”, while on Monday the Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallad, underlined that the only way in order to return to their homes on the Israel-Lebanon border, the approximately 60,000 Israeli displaced persons are through “military action”.