War Can Blow Up In Your Face

'The world cannot remain a mute spectator. We could have televisions blowing up in our homes, smartphones blowing up in a gym or mobile phones blowing up on aircraft.'

'Our adversaries are not going to sit quiet. They have got an idea that they will encash to our detriment,' warns Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (retd).

IMAGE: Men carry a coffin as they walk past images of Mohammad Mahdi Ammar, son of Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament Ali Ammar, and Abbas Fadel Yassin, who were killed amid the detonation of pagers across Lebanon, during their funerals in Beirut, Lebanon, September 18, 2024. Photograph: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

Caution: Graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised.

Imagine a mobile phone blowing up in the face of a few children in school, killing a few of them and permanently maiming several others in the bargain!

What would your reaction be?

What would the parents' and school's reaction be?

What would the police reaction be?

What would the country's reaction be?

All would be looking at each other trying to figure out who is at fault and what went wrong?

There would be grief, disbelief, anger and cries to punish the guilty.

IMAGE: Men react as they attend the funerals for people who were killed amid the pagers detonation. Photograph: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

Whom do you catch? Nobody claims responsibility or a terrorist group makes a statement of 'bloody revenge.'

Government machinery runs to take cover. Politicians join protests to condemn the dastardly act. Against whom? To what end? The damage is done.

Several children are dead and more injured. News flashes the gory details endlessly, adding to the misery. Welcome to the future!

IMAGE: Walkie-talkie devices without batteries are shown at an electronic store in Sidon, Lebanon, which the owner says he removed for safety reason, after hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, across Lebanon's south and in Beirut's southern suburbs. Photograph: Aziz Taher/Reuters

The Hezbollah pager blasts on September 17, 2024, in Lebanon followed by the walkie-talkie blasts in Beirut on September 18 has shocked the world community by its sheer devilish innovation.

Hezbollah says Israel is behind the blasts. Israel is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop.

There is complete silence from the side of the perpetrators and complete non-attributability in that sense. It is a case of 'we know whodunnit but cannot prove a thing.'

There will be more blasts and more ingenious ways of causing them. Be warned.

IMAGE: A poster with the image of Mohamed Hassan Nour al-Din is seen as people attend the funerals for people who were killed amid the pagersdetonation. Photograph: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

Media reports indicate alleged tampering with the exploding devices.

It seems small quantities of explosives were embedded into the pagers and walkie-talkies, thus creating mini-bombs out of them. These were remotely radio-controlled for detonation.

If there was an unethical equivalent of the Nobel Prize, there are no prizes for guessing my nominee.

We also have a fancy term for this. It is called 'supply-chain interference', as if it is some mild business disorder. That business disorder is the instrument of destruction.

IMAGE: A man donates blood for those injured by the pagers detonation. Photograph: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

What it means is that these devices were intercepted during some point in their supply chain, implanted with these mini-bombs and sent on their way.

This cannot be a simple operation as it involves subversion of a commercial chain, knowledge of explosives and electronics including their miniaturisation, an entire organisation that functions to carry this out, complete collusion of elements in the supply chain, heavy bribes and many other aspects of flawless coordination.

It cannot be done by a weak organisation and is extremely difficult even for a non-State entity. Draw your own conclusions.

IMAGE: An injured man undergoes an operation at a hospital in Beirut. Photograph: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

The world cannot remain a mute spectator. We could have televisions blowing up in our homes, smartphones blowing up in a gym or mobile phones blowing up on aircraft.

Our adversaries are not going to sit quiet. They have got an idea that they will encash to our detriment.

It is time for a collective response to such barbaric ideas that disgrace humanity. Everything is not fair in war.

Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (retd) is a former Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com