39
submitted 1 month ago by breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

Israel has vowed to retaliate after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel in a dramatic intensification of a conflict that appeared to be escalating out of control.

“Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it,” Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his security cabinet late on Tuesday. “The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.”

The unprecedented Iranian salvo of more than 180 ballistic missiles came less than 24 hours after the Israeli prime minister ordered the largest ground incursion into southern Lebanon in a generation.

MBFC
Archive

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] papertowels@lemmy.one 0 points 1 month ago

How many accounts have there been of non-hezbollah folks holding the pager when it blew up?

I carry one for work, and that shit is on me unless I'm sleeping, because the entire point of a pager is it can reach me no matter what, I'd be surprised if that deviated significantly for Hezbollah folks.

[-] Sundial@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

At least several children were killed. You're missing the point though. A targeted attack means you want to attack a single individual and know exactly where, how, and when to attack. Israel just pressed a button and blew up a bunch of pagers without actually knowing who they would hurt.

[-] papertowels@lemmy.one 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

At least several children were killed.

Are you saying that the children were holding the pagers, or are you avoiding my question of how many civilians were holding pagers that went off?

A targeted attack means you want to attack a single individual and know exactly where, how, and when to attack.

A pager that out of necessity has to be on someone for it to work seems to fit that bill.

Single individual: targeting the person assigned to the pager

Where: right next to the pager

How: explosion

When: perhaps the weakest point, if someone was sleeping then the timing wasn't right.

Again, my initial point is that it was targeted, but not precise enough. Targeted does not mean 0 innocents were hurt.

[-] Sundial@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

The where/how/when answers you provided need to be a lot more specific to fit the definition of targeted. A proper example of a targeted attack would be the US assassination of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

[-] papertowels@lemmy.one 1 points 1 month ago

Great example to discuss! I'll point out that the r9x used in that strike is considered a precision weapon. Again, targeting and precision are two different things.

It feels like you're conflating the two - do you consider them to be the same?

[-] Sundial@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

They're different things but they do complement each other. You can't have a targeted attack without some high level of precision. I'm genuinely struggling to think of an example a "targeted attack" without some kind of precision applied in the attack.

[-] papertowels@lemmy.one 1 points 1 month ago

So in this case, I'd suggest that it was a targeted attack, because there's definitely credit due for setting up shell companies to infiltrate the supply chain to modify devices that are very much only for Hezbollah members to use for Hezbollah activities.

However, the actual method of killing wasn't precise enough in the sense that there were too many civilian casualties. I'm talking out of my ass here, but if the payload was instead ye olde polonium poisoning on a needle that you'd get pricked when changing the battery, for example, that'd be a very precise and targeted strike.

[-] Sundial@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

I would say the polonium needle example you provided would be an example of a much more precise and targeted attack, yes. I still fail to see how you could define the blowing up a bunch of pagers as targeted. Even if the pagers were meant exclusively for Hezbollah. The only way I could kind of see your argument is if all targets were confirmed to be in military bases or something like that. The fact that these were blown up in civilian areas like homes, schools, stores, etc and that civilians actually died because of it, discredits the "targeted" claim in my opinion.

this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
39 points (80.0% liked)

World News

39021 readers
840 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS