42
submitted 2 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

The batteries of the walkie-talkies used by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that blew up this week were laced with a highly explosive compound known as PETN, a Lebanese source familiar with the device's components told Reuters.

The way the explosive material was integrated into the battery pack made it extremely difficult to detect, the source said.

Hundreds of walkie-talkies used by the group exploded on Wednesday, a day after thousands of Hezbollah's pagers detonated across the group's strongholds in Lebanon.

The Lebanese source said explosions had occurred even in cases where the battery pack was separated from the rest of the device.

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

I cannot help but be morbidly impressed with this operation being carried out. Don't get me wrong, it was absolutely morally reprehensible, but this is James Bond villain-level stuff.

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

It basically is the plot of Kingsman.

[-] tilefan@lemm.ee 3 points 2 months ago

there wasn't one point where any of these devices passed a bomb dog?

I don’t know what sort of batteries you use, but the ones in my devices tend to be hermetically sealed. Otherwise they become spicy pillows.

[-] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 months ago

You think a bunch of Hamas guys are in the habit of hanging around bomb sniffing dogs?

That’s like asking why Snoop Dogg wasn’t caught by the drug dog.

[-] kevindqc@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago
[-] tilefan@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

bro please google words before you use them

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

I don't know what their accuracy is, but unless someone noticed it happening a lot, they probably would have passed it off as a false positive because they trusted the pagers.

[-] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Ok, new acronym ... I Am Not A Bomb Expert (IANABE) but this is just a somewhat explosive-noob educated guess ...

PETN can be mixed with a plasticizer and RDX to make a plastic explosive (or possibly a plastic casing that would surround a battery pack???)

As it has been reported that some of the battery packs exploded even when they had been removed from the device, there must have been an igniter in the battery pack as well (engaged by a radio signal vs a software signal???)

PETN has a high shattering effect (which may be why it was chosen to shatter a battery pack???)

Everything in parentheses with ??? means a guess ... because, again, IANABE.

edit to add - how many explosve-trained dogs do you think walk around Lebanon, just checking out the scenery?

[-] tilefan@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

this is completely me guessing but like, they have to have regular airport security, otherwise other nations wouldn't be letting airplanes from their country enter their airspace, right? that would mean bomb dogs at the very least. unless they don't have any international airports?

[-] tilefan@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

it's just, so many devices. surely one of them would have crossed paths

[-] MediaBiasFactChecker@lemmy.world -4 points 2 months ago

Reuters - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)Information for Reuters:

MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Very High - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this source

Wikipedia - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)Information for Wikipedia:

MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United States of America
Wikipedia about this source

Search topics on Ground.Newshttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaerythritol_tetranitrate
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/batteries-walkie-talkies-that-exploded-lebanon-were-laced-with-petn-lebanese-2024-09-20/
Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
42 points (97.7% liked)

World News

39129 readers
757 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