5 ms·

With a statement like that one wonders if Hezbollah leadership itself has been infiltrated.

kspacewalk2 2y ago
Israel has an intelligence agency that's generally recognized to be quite competent. I'm sure it would have taken them approximately 5 minutes to learn from their many spies that a new form of communications is being used.
- andyetandyet 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - gojomo 2y ago
    Not really: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-attack-intelligence.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-h... They just didn't realize how real this particular plan was. It's quite likely Hamas is regularly bluffing similar attacks in many potentially-compromised channels. If they then see Israel react, they've received info about Israel's capabilities & tactics – and maybe even ways to misdirect Israeli forces with future feints. And any real plans may stay hidden amongst dozens/hundreds of other "false alarms".
    - anigbrowl 2y ago
      Hamas =/= Hezbollah, even though they have a common enemy and their alliances overlap.
      - gojomo 2y ago
        Yes, but I believe the post to which I was replying used "the initial attack" that Israel "failed to see coming" to refer to Hamas' October 7th attack. Hence my reference to Hamas' likely chaffing of Israel's intel, and Israel's false-alarm fatigue, before that "surprise" attack. Of course Hezbollah likely uses similar tactics - but if as deeply pierced as this latest attack implies, they'd have to wonder if any comm successes they thought they had were just Israel leading them on. I doubt Hezbollah has surprised Israel recently!
tptacek 2y ago
The IRGC itself has clearly and spectacularly infiltrated; read the details of the Haniyeh attack. So, yeah, at this point I don't think anyone in the IRGC network can trust anybody else. The messaging here is pretty intense.
axlee 2y ago
I mean Israel is behind Pegasus, so it's not exactly a secret that they can get into any cellphone. Israel didn't need to infiltrate Hezbollah, they just needed publicity.
- londons_explore 2y ago
  You can also find out what your target is using, find some exploits in it and publicize them, then offer a super good deal on an upgraded model.
grotorea 2y ago
Theoretically, pagers are simpler devices, meaning it would be much easier in principle to analyse both hardware and software to check for issues, unlike a mainstream phone OS which has a bigger software attack area and can have at least some zero day attacks known to a state level actor like Israel. Although, if it really was explosive inside the pagers it seems Hezbollah didn't do this.

Israel has an intelligence agency that's generally recognized to be quite competent. I'm sure it would have taken them approximately 5 minutes to learn from their many spies that a new form of communications is being used.

andyetandyet 2y ago
[flagged]
- gojomo 2y ago
  Not really: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-attack-intelligence.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-h... They just didn't realize how real this particular plan was. It's quite likely Hamas is regularly bluffing similar attacks in many potentially-compromised channels. If they then see Israel react, they've received info about Israel's capabilities & tactics – and maybe even ways to misdirect Israeli forces with future feints. And any real plans may stay hidden amongst dozens/hundreds of other "false alarms".
  - anigbrowl 2y ago
    Hamas =/= Hezbollah, even though they have a common enemy and their alliances overlap.
    - gojomo 2y ago
      Yes, but I believe the post to which I was replying used "the initial attack" that Israel "failed to see coming" to refer to Hamas' October 7th attack. Hence my reference to Hamas' likely chaffing of Israel's intel, and Israel's false-alarm fatigue, before that "surprise" attack. Of course Hezbollah likely uses similar tactics - but if as deeply pierced as this latest attack implies, they'd have to wonder if any comm successes they thought they had were just Israel leading them on. I doubt Hezbollah has surprised Israel recently!

tptacek 2y ago

The IRGC itself has clearly and spectacularly infiltrated; read the details of the Haniyeh attack. So, yeah, at this point I don't think anyone in the IRGC network can trust anybody else. The messaging here is pretty intense.

axlee 2y ago

I mean Israel is behind Pegasus, so it's not exactly a secret that they can get into any cellphone. Israel didn't need to infiltrate Hezbollah, they just needed publicity.

londons_explore 2y ago
You can also find out what your target is using, find some exploits in it and publicize them, then offer a super good deal on an upgraded model.

grotorea 2y ago

Theoretically, pagers are simpler devices, meaning it would be much easier in principle to analyse both hardware and software to check for issues, unlike a mainstream phone OS which has a bigger software attack area and can have at least some zero day attacks known to a state level actor like Israel. Although, if it really was explosive inside the pagers it seems Hezbollah didn't do this.