These are strange times we live in, eh?
In this post:
Lebanon bans pagers & walkie-talkies for air travelers
Effective immediately, Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has banned passengers from taking pagers and walkie-talkies onto flights. The ban applies to carry-on luggage, checked bags, and cargo, and this will be enforced until further notice.
For those wondering why on earth an airport would ban these kinds of devices, this follows two attacks in Lebanon in the past couple of days, On Tuesday, pagers belonging to the armed group Hezbollah exploded, killing at least a dozen people, and injuring thousands. Then on Wednesday, there was yet another attack, this time with walkie-talkies exploding, killing at last 25 people, and injuring hundreds.
Now, as you’d expect, the backstory here seems to be quite complicated, and it goes beyond this blog. But it’s being widely reported that Israel is behind these attacks, and may have planted explosives in pagers and walkie-talkies months ago, and then sent them a code to trigger the explosion.
There’s precedent for flight electronics bans
Admittedly both pagers and walkie-talkies are pretty niche nowadays, in the sense that most of us aren’t traveling with these items (don’t worry, you can still bring your fax machine, though).
However, the concept of banning select electronics from flights reminds me of the the 2017 electronics ban we saw in the United States. During this time, on flights from the Middle East to the United States, electronic devices larger than phones weren’t allowed in the cabin, and needed to be checked in the cargo hold.
This was based on some sort of a threat of electronics being used as explosives. However, what made this different is that they continued to be allowed in the cargo hold of jets, but just not in the cabin. So presumably the belief was that these explosives couldn’t be detonated remotely, or else that ban wouldn’t make much sense.
Furthermore, this policy increased the risk of a fire breaking out in the cargo hold, given that many electronics have lithium ion batteries, and can only be checked in the cargo hold of flights with restrictions. Fortunately that ban ended up eventually being pulled.
In the case of Lebanon, I can of course appreciate that the country is currently dealing with two back-to-back terror attacks, and it’s taking extreme measures. But otherwise you’d logically think that these kinds of items could be screened, to determine if they were explosives or not. I imagine the country would need more time to figure out exact screening procedures, and right now just wants to take the most extreme measures possible to protect safety.
Bottom line
If you’re passing through Lebanon Airport soon, you’ll want to leave your pagers and walkie-talkies behind. This follows two days of awful attacks in the country, which have resulted in dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries. I’m curious to see how long this policy sticks around, and if it perhaps extends to other countries as well.
Wait do you make of Lebanon’s new airport pager and walkie-talkie ban?
Ah the effects of Israeli terrorism being exported all over the globe, with the full backing of the imperial nuclear-armed U.S. The sooner the Zionist entity ceases to exist, the better everyone will be.
the F are you blabbing about? leave israel alone and they'll do the same. hezbollah has been launching missiles at israeli civilians for 11 months straight and have made the entire northern part of the country uninhabitable. what sovereign state would put up with that? the answer is ZERO and you know it
"This follows two days of awful attacks..."
You have a warped perspective if you think strikes on terrorists are "awful attacks". You call it awful. I say it's 'magnificent', even 'beautiful'. The world is f-ed up when airline bloggers sympathize with terrorists.
(A gentle reminder: terrorists love blowing up planes with civilians, in case you 'forgot')
Horrendous take Lucky.
The most targeted mass attack against terrorists in history and you call it a terror attack?
When you did you become a terror simp?
Mossad has defined a new technological method of warfare against the evil axis of Iran, its proxy terrorists organisations of Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRG.
The Islamic Caliphate is determined to terrorise the Western democracies back into the Middle Ages.
Soon all Islamic terrorists will have to live their lives in the primeval world or risk extinction at the hands of Mossad and the IDF.
60 posts and only half of one on topic! Do you people not know how to read? This is a miles and points blog. Save your outrage and insults, as righteous and justifiable as they may be, to the appropriate forum.
I can't stop smiling! That one day all kinds of electronic devices are banned onboard. This is one development I certainly support. We have all kinds of electronic devices in a ways nowadays and overtaking our lives. We become too much dependent with them.
How dare you call this a terror attack. It was the most precise operation targeting TERRORISTS. What a joke, shame on you. You'll just blame Israel in any way possible.
couldn’t agree more
Just gobbling up that Zionist propaganda. No mention of the children, nurses, aid workers, and emergency reponders killed and maimed. Surely a state that kills 15,000 children in 9 months has such a respect for civilian life. What a joke.
100%. there's literally nothing israel can do against these extremely heavily armed and dangerous cartels that people with a certain worldview will approve. only capitulation will satisfy them. in a way its clarifying as it goes to show it was never about a concern for human life, just a general disdain of jews and a sneering righteousness at what some groups of people have to do to survive while they themselves have never known real struggle
Hahahahahahahaha. God punishing the terrorists. That’s what you get for murdering Jews.
“Suffice it to say that the loss of life here is absolutely tragic.”
With all due respect…. da fuq??????
OMAAT engagement numbers may have been down lately.
That’s turned around now!
When the US was at war with Afghanistan, if the Taliban managed to blow up a bunch of walkie-talkies held by US military personnel, I assume we'd have declared that to be a terrorist attack.
The situation here is grayer, because Hezbollah is a terrorist organization rather than a legitimate military. (LAF is the military of Lebanon.)
So I guess the question is - are you allowed to break the rules of war to target...
When the US was at war with Afghanistan, if the Taliban managed to blow up a bunch of walkie-talkies held by US military personnel, I assume we'd have declared that to be a terrorist attack.
The situation here is grayer, because Hezbollah is a terrorist organization rather than a legitimate military. (LAF is the military of Lebanon.)
So I guess the question is - are you allowed to break the rules of war to target those who are already breaking the rules of war? Legally, probably not. Morally, maybe.
Mobile phones and lap tops shud also be banned. People shud rent those devices upon arrival of their destinations just like renting a car, so the planes won't be blown up in the air
Some might consider your thoughts on this subject to be seriously flawed.
Lebanese civilians do not carry Hezbollah pagers.
There's no such thing as a "Hezbollah pager". Lebanese civilians carry pagers, and Hezbollah operatives carry pagers. There's no way to distinguish between the two devices because they're the same. That's why all this propaganda about a "targeted" attack is nonsense and - since you people are clearly incapable of understanding - why even the Europeans are disgusted by the escalating Israeli terror campaigns against the rest of the world.
They're not the same. These were literally ordered by Hezbollah, and given to their operatives. Hezbollah is not giving out their pagers to non-Hezbollah members. Use your damn head.
Pagers not sold to Hezbollah weren't laden with explosives.
if you actually read about the procurement process that IDF intelligence planned they overtook the European vendor an intercepted shipment and sold it directly to Hezbollah HQ. Hence, this was a very, very targeted attack.
nonsense. these were special ordered pagers by hezbollah to send encrypted messages because they're worried about surveillance. what ordinary civilian carries an encrypted pager (let alone procured by a terror cartel) in 2024?
Why is "both are wrong" never an option? Is it like you can see everything that the side you oppose has done, but not what the side you support has done?
Both parties involved this attack and the war, Hamas/Hezbollah/+ and Israel, are horrible. End of the conversation.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah would not exist if it weren't for Israel...
You're right! If the Jews didn't deign to exist, the two terrorist organizations calling for death to all Jews also would not exist.
very well said. when it comes down to it, israels "crime" (and jews overall), has always been daring to exist in the face of all the losers that want to see them scapegoated and annihilated. its been going on for a thousand years. not to mention hezbollah terrorizes many groups in the middle east, not just israelis
Both Hamas and Hizbolah would not exists if it weren't for islamisim...
"Suffice it to say that the loss of life here is absolutely tragic."
Why exactly? The pagers belonged to fighters in a group designated as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU, and others.
I think you are overplaying how tragic the loss of their lives was. Would you rather they lived to try to murder innocent civilians?
And the British government would have designated the Revolutionary Army in the United States as a terrorist organization had the classification existed at the time. Nobody with a brain is being fooled by the weaponization of the term "terrorist" when it's only applied to the actions of one group and not equally evaluated against the same actions of another because the second group happens to be allied with the observer.
hezbollah are terrorists because they are an iranian-backed militia and drug cartel that has subverted the legal government of lebanon, holds it citizens hostage, and carried out genocides against minorities in syria and iraq. israel is a democratic state that's never started a war. you seem deepy confused about the region, but more likely you just hate jews and sneer at their ongoing struggle to continue existing
Because it's easier to play to the liberal notion that Israel bad.
Israel bombs Gaza indiscriminately? Bad. (Yes, this one really is).
Israel does a *very* targeted operation against *actual terrorists who are shooting rockets at their children* with an unprecedentedly high accuracy? Bad. (Because, terrorists are people, too. But not Jews. They are terrorists, but not people. Or something.)
Way too much sympathy for a terrorist org that indiscriminately bombs Israel civilians daily. You couldn’t think of a way to eliminate the threat with less civilians involved as hard as you’d try to.
And Israel doesn't kill civilians?
It's like you're being deliberately obtuse. Allow me to clarify: One actively tries to avoid killing civilians; the other is a terrorist organization who purposefully and *intentionally* has indiscriminately fired over 8000 rockets into civilian Israeli areas in the last 11 months.
What if one of those would have Boarded EL AL ?
Israel doesn’t allow terrorists to fly on their airlines.
El Al is watching you from the moment you arrive at the airport. As soon as you park in long term parking or get dropped off by an Uber. They are watching.
Ben,
You need to be vigilant and careful how and what you post on topic of the Gazan war. It feels like we are living in McCarthism era when criticisms level against Israel are deemed as anti-semantic. Unless you provide concrete evidences which can still be challenged in the country riddled with alternative truths. Herbollah is the Shia terrorist group that controls Lebanon now. There is no other group but Israel that was the...
Ben,
You need to be vigilant and careful how and what you post on topic of the Gazan war. It feels like we are living in McCarthism era when criticisms level against Israel are deemed as anti-semantic. Unless you provide concrete evidences which can still be challenged in the country riddled with alternative truths. Herbollah is the Shia terrorist group that controls Lebanon now. There is no other group but Israel that was the only culprit in the two attacks in Lebanon. In the last paragraph, you indicated that the "back to back terror attacks" will invite unintended elements out of the woodwork.
I wouldn't call Ben anti-semantic at all... in fact, I think he has a fantastic command of the written word.
Is it really that hard to include the official US designation of Hezbollah as a "terrorist group"? And I am baffled by your choice of words in calling the "loss of life tragic." It's not tragic. Full stop.
It's only "not tragic" if you see all Arabs as legitimate targets. By your own logic, any attacks on Israelis would be legitimate because of compulsory IDF service and the embedment of IDF and Israeli military bases in civilian areas.
Eho said anything about all Arabs? These devices were quite literally used for communications between Hezbollah members. The unfortunate fact that one or two civilians may have been killed as a result of this does not make it a "terror attack" by the perpetrator.
It was more than "one or two" civilians.
You're right. I forgot to include the 16 year old "child" Hezbollah member
*terrorists as legitimate targets
I’m a huge fan Ben, this was the most direct supply chain interception so only specific members of a listed terrorist group received these devices. The civilian collateral damage was the lowest we’ve seen in history of combat.
I am not sorry for the loss of life of terrorists, but any innocent civilians that were killed or wounded is horrible. However, this was very precise and I would challenge anyone to name a more...
I’m a huge fan Ben, this was the most direct supply chain interception so only specific members of a listed terrorist group received these devices. The civilian collateral damage was the lowest we’ve seen in history of combat.
I am not sorry for the loss of life of terrorists, but any innocent civilians that were killed or wounded is horrible. However, this was very precise and I would challenge anyone to name a more targeted operation with a lower ratio of civilians harmed in history.
Man, hasbara got to this post quickly! I'm not sure that I'd describe an operation as "precise" when it involved blowing the eyes off of doctors and children.
Children are dying everywhere every day.
When Muslims kill other Muslims, we don't get the hand-wringing. Nobody gives a fuck.
Incredibly tedious to see people play act as some great lover of Muslim children whenever Israel is at war.
It's all an act.
Exactly. You people see any kind of empathy or care for anyone that doesn't look, act, and think exactly like you as some sort of giant con - hence why you're okay with the idea of massacring hundreds of thousands of innocent people. What a sad, small way to spend your one life on earth.
You spelled “terrorists” wrong.
You can shove your head in the sand that the only people you kill are "terrorists" because "otherwise we wouldn't have killed them, we only kill terrorists" for as long as you want. The same logic as "anyone criticizing us must be antisemitic, because you have to be an anti-semite to disagree with us". Eventually reality catches up. I wish you luck when that happens.
@Kolya2009
When was your last time to step outside?
What do you think what was the WHOLE world was doing when the ISIS was invading Arab and Middle Eastern countries, killing Muslims?
Lmao. What about Israeli government playing victim and crying...
@Kolya2009
When was your last time to step outside?
What do you think what was the WHOLE world was doing when the ISIS was invading Arab and Middle Eastern countries, killing Muslims?
Lmao. What about Israeli government playing victim and crying about their children dying, when they're the one who let those innocent souls die in the lack of any attempt to deescalate the situation and prisoner release?
It's so f*cked up that you'd be proud of yourself for saying this bullsh*t.
@Mason
You can’t possibly be this ignorant/brainwashed. It’s simply not possible.
Okay but why did “children and doctors” have pagers distributed by a terrorist organization in the first place?
Er, they were next to the pagers when they went off, the people were driving when the pagers went off and got into accidents, etc...
Absolute shame on Israel
The United States must immediately withdraw ALL support for Israel
To the contrary, the USA must immediately find out how this was done. What a fantastic way to blow up terrorist scumbags! Brilliant.
“The Pager Operation” will be remembered as one of the most precise military strikes in history.
Using Hezbollah's own exclusive communication tech, Israel carried out arguably the most precise anti-terror operation ever. Thousands of terrorists hit, in their cities, with minimal civilian casualties.
A game-changer in modern warfare.
If Israel is so capable, then why are they unable to do that in Gaza, where tens of thousands of innocent women and children have been slaughtered?
Israel has demonstrated they are capable of cutting off the water, food, and energy to Gaza, so this is clearly within their abilities.
You lost me at “tens of thousands of innocent women and children have been slaughtered”.
Yeah, but raping moms in front of their kids then slaughtering them is cool as long as they're Jews. Right? RIGHT?
Effff Gaza
Actually, there is evidence that the Oct 7th rapes was discredited. Meanwhile Israeli media has reported on Palestinians (male and female) being raped by Israeli soldiers and in Israeli prisons by Israeli officials. And yes Kolya, tens of thousands of innocent women and children have been slaughtered is true.
Zionists are unable to process the fact that their ideology and the right-wing government of Israel is responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of innocents.
Even the UN concedes that there was sexual violence on Oct. 7: https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15621.doc.htm
Take your anti-semitic bias and shove it. Perhaps if Israel's neighbors wouldn't be hell bent on destroying it since the first day it was founded, there wouldn't be any casualties. Or is it okay for Arabs to blow up Israeli buses just because Jews are bad?
> Actually, there is evidence that the Oct 7th rapes was discredited.
No, there isn't. UN admits it happened. NYT and other reputable news sources have done countless well-researched pieces on it. Even most "anti-Zionists" acknowledge it (and then engage in whataboutism, but alas).
Rapes discredited…….what are you smoking Julia? I suggest you watch the documentary Screams before Silence: https://youtu.be/Ide8kYc28Ow?si=jzBiyMKq_PxlwOYs It will take your breath away.
The ban is logical because of fear of unexploded pagers. Israel may not have exploded all of them.
This incident was a terrorist attack by Israel. We, in the United States, tend to favor Israel, and that's a reasonable political stance. However, what Israel did is terrorism, plain and simple.
It was meant to sow fear and terror among people in Lebanon. Some kids were killed or injured. If a Hezbollah terrorist carries a...
The ban is logical because of fear of unexploded pagers. Israel may not have exploded all of them.
This incident was a terrorist attack by Israel. We, in the United States, tend to favor Israel, and that's a reasonable political stance. However, what Israel did is terrorism, plain and simple.
It was meant to sow fear and terror among people in Lebanon. Some kids were killed or injured. If a Hezbollah terrorist carries a pager, he/she is not going to give it to his/her kid.
What we are likely seeing is that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization but Israel is also a country that engages in some terrorism, albeit not the same scale as Iran.
Israel carried out probably the most precise anti-terror operation ever. Thousands of terrorists hit, with minimal civilian casualties.
In contrast, Hezbollah has been indiscriminately launching 8,000+ rockets and drones at Israeli civilians. I’m not even mentioning murdering 12 Druze-Israeli children when they fired rockets at a soccer field where they were playing.
Comparing Israel to Hezbollah is laughably absurd.
@Kolya2009
41K+ Palestinians and about 1K Lebanese and Syrian people in addition to countless injured people would like to prove that you're just a clown.
Keep supporting the real terrorist state of Israel.
Once a colonizer, always a colonizer.
@Mason
Where did you get “41K+ Palestinians” from?
Children are dying everywhere every day. When Muslims kill other Muslims, we don't get the hand-wringing. Nobody gives a fuck.
It’s comical to see people like yourself play act as some great lover of Muslim children whenever Israel is at war.
Keep up the act, bro.
@Kolya2009
No, I feel sorry for every "innocent" souls died in the war. Even including Israelis, if and only if, who dislikes the current Netanyahu regime's ultra-Zionist agenda.
But not even slightly to those who supports that evil and his followers. Him and his actions are the reason why Israelis have died.
YOU'RE the one who's acting good.
@Mason
“Even including Israelis…”
Those are the only innocent people here.
"Those are the only innocent people here."
Not if the are in the Israeli army or reservists...
"When Muslims kill other Muslims, we don't get the hand-wringing."
Actually, we do get that, but you just never cared enough to pay attention.
So we should give Israel a prize?
We should also give Nazi a prize while we're at it because when they were killing people, they were also targetting a specific group and not many others were hurt.
Good luck surviving "anti-Semite" and "Hamas propaganda" accusations in here OMAAT, a website full of hypocritic Zionists blindfolded from the truths.
I'm actually feeling sorry for them really believing what they're saying is correct and Israel is always right. It's quite the opposite - the real history told by Zionist lobby-free historians tell what's really true.
It's never late to wake up.
Mason, so you support an organization (hizballah) that went into Syria and helped Assad butcher, rape, main, torture and kill 2 million Syrians? Clearly you got dropped on your head at birth (probably from being a child of incest rape and this genetically deformed)
Mason is a terrorist supporter and hates jews. he tries to come up with elaborate ways to obfuscate it but its really that simple. living in safety and security while disdainfully criticizing what a hunted group of people has to do to survive against genocidal theocrats whose only goal in life is to slaughter them. he'll never put himself in an israelis shoes because that would require stepping down from his moral high horse and...
Mason is a terrorist supporter and hates jews. he tries to come up with elaborate ways to obfuscate it but its really that simple. living in safety and security while disdainfully criticizing what a hunted group of people has to do to survive against genocidal theocrats whose only goal in life is to slaughter them. he'll never put himself in an israelis shoes because that would require stepping down from his moral high horse and for once consider jews as human beings. not going to happen