4 ms·

Curious if the explosives in the pagers would have been detected at airports. Also, imagine if one went off in a plane.

by woggy 2y ago

DANmode 2y ago
Gotta imagine if they wanted to detonate during a flight time they could have.
- aymaneSennoussi 2y ago
  [flagged]
killingtime74 2y ago
I would have not much faith in that. They only randomly do the swab tests for explosive traces from what I've seen. Presumably the explosives were well hidden and might not even trigger these scanners. TSA is famous for not identifying the majority of weapons: https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188 https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-...
- wkat4242 2y ago
  The thing is, these explosives were meant to be hidden. I'm sure the swabbing and scanning would not work because Hezbollah would have access to the same tech. It's a bit different from other military uses that are more open.
skybrian 2y ago
> Hezbollah examined the pagers after they were delivered to Lebanon, starting in 2022, including by travelling through airports with them to ensure they would not trigger alarms, two additional sources told Reuters. [1] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hezbollah-handed-out-pagers-hours-before-blasts-even-after-checks-2024-09-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hezbollah-handed-o...
- kmlx 2y ago
  i find this story very weird. hezbollah is a terrorist organisation. which airports allow terrorists to travel through them with pallets of electronic devices?
  - skybrian 2y ago
    I doubt that every member is on a list, and even if they are, there are fake ids. Maybe the airport in Beirut would be cooperative? And it also doesn’t say that they tested every device this way.
  - raincom 2y ago
    Hezbollah has 20,000 fighters, another 20,000 reservists. 97% of all shias, 35% of all sunnis, 25% of Christians in Lebanon support them for various reasons. Hezbollah is the king maker of Lebanon politics: whoever(esp politicians) goes against Hezbollah in Lebanon will get assassinated. How many of them are on watch lists? Maybe, 100 to 200. Even the people who are on watch lists travel secretly on middle eastern carriers by using aliases.
seo-speedwagon 2y ago
The explosive used was PETN which is very difficult to make and very difficult to detect. You pretty much need a spectroscope. Generally airports and ports are set up for detecting things like explosives you cooked up yourself or stolen mining equipment or whatever. Military grade explosives are expected to be chemically tagged because they’re for, y’know, legit military use and not terrorism. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Marking_of_Plastic_Explosives https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Marking_of... I can’t find anything on whether or not the PETN that Israel used was tagged. If not, it would be yet another layer of irresponsibility. Unexploded ordinance is very real, as the recent news about the WWII era bomb blowing a hole in that airport runway in Japan attests to.

Curious if the explosives in the pagers would have been detected at airports. Also, imagine if one went off in a plane.

by woggy 2y ago

Curious if the explosives in the pagers would have been detected at airports. Also, imagine if one went off in a plane.

DANmode 2y ago

Gotta imagine if they wanted to detonate during a flight time they could have.

aymaneSennoussi 2y ago
[flagged]

killingtime74 2y ago

I would have not much faith in that. They only randomly do the swab tests for explosive traces from what I've seen. Presumably the explosives were well hidden and might not even trigger these scanners. TSA is famous for not identifying the majority of weapons: https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188 https://abcnews.go.com/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-...

wkat4242 2y ago
The thing is, these explosives were meant to be hidden. I'm sure the swabbing and scanning would not work because Hezbollah would have access to the same tech. It's a bit different from other military uses that are more open.

skybrian 2y ago

> Hezbollah examined the pagers after they were delivered to Lebanon, starting in 2022, including by travelling through airports with them to ensure they would not trigger alarms, two additional sources told Reuters. [1] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hezbollah-handed-out-pagers-hours-before-blasts-even-after-checks-2024-09-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hezbollah-handed-o...

kmlx 2y ago
i find this story very weird. hezbollah is a terrorist organisation. which airports allow terrorists to travel through them with pallets of electronic devices?
- skybrian 2y ago
  I doubt that every member is on a list, and even if they are, there are fake ids. Maybe the airport in Beirut would be cooperative? And it also doesn’t say that they tested every device this way.
- raincom 2y ago
  Hezbollah has 20,000 fighters, another 20,000 reservists. 97% of all shias, 35% of all sunnis, 25% of Christians in Lebanon support them for various reasons. Hezbollah is the king maker of Lebanon politics: whoever(esp politicians) goes against Hezbollah in Lebanon will get assassinated. How many of them are on watch lists? Maybe, 100 to 200. Even the people who are on watch lists travel secretly on middle eastern carriers by using aliases.

seo-speedwagon 2y ago

The explosive used was PETN which is very difficult to make and very difficult to detect. You pretty much need a spectroscope. Generally airports and ports are set up for detecting things like explosives you cooked up yourself or stolen mining equipment or whatever. Military grade explosives are expected to be chemically tagged because they’re for, y’know, legit military use and not terrorism. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Marking_of_Plastic_Explosives https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Marking_of... I can’t find anything on whether or not the PETN that Israel used was tagged. If not, it would be yet another layer of irresponsibility. Unexploded ordinance is very real, as the recent news about the WWII era bomb blowing a hole in that airport runway in Japan attests to.