Israel At War Tuesday Sept 17

 Israel at war day 347

- Israeli security officials detonated the Hezbollah pagers after two Hezbollah members grew suspicious that their devices had been compromised, Al Monitor reports.

- According to Officials briefed on the matter who spoke with the New York Times; the Thousands of Encrypted Pagers which Exploded today in Lebanon, resulting in Hundreds of Hezbollah Members to be Killed or Critically Injured, were Imported into Lebanon by the Taiwanese-Based Pager Company, Gold Apollo. With the Pagers having been Boobytrapped by Israeli Agents before reaching Lebanon, where roughly 1-2 Ounces of Explosive Material was placed next to the Device Battery, alongside a Trigger to allow Remote Detonation. 

- At 3:30PM earlier today, the Pagers received a Message that appeared to be coming from Senior Hezbollah Leadership, which then Activated the Explosive within the Device; with the Pagers being Programmed to “Beep” several times before Exploding. (Osnitdefender)

- According to Sky News Arabic, Mossad placed 20 grams of PETN explosives into each device. PETN is sensitive to heat and friction, and Israel detonated it by raising the temperature of the battery to explode it.

- Reports now that the pagers came from Iran and that the Mossad planted the explosives on Iranian territory before they left for Lebanon (Sky News) 

Over 4000 injured 400 critical, 500 blinded in their eyes

-Barak Ravid in Axios: "Israel conducted the operation to take its fight against Hezbollah into a new phase." the operation was "aimed at undermining Hezbollah's confidence and creating a feeling in the ranks of the militia that Israeli intelligence services have totally penetrated it." Israel apparently assessed that this operation would cause a significant Hezbollah retaliation

- famous Syrian Druze journalist Fitzal Al-Qassem (with millions of followers on social media and a program on Al-Jazeera) writes about the blow Hezbollah took today.

"What happened today to Hezbollah can be classified as the most fantastic pre-emptive strike in modern history. It can be compared to Israel's pre-emptive strike on the Egyptian Air Force before the Six-Day War.

Today, Hezbollah has thousands of brand new disabled fighters, and if they enter the war now, its wounded will not even find one free bed in the hospitals in Lebanon because the hospitals are now bursting with injured.

Even worse - Hezbollah has lost its security and military means of communication." (Abu Ali)

- Israel injected explosives into the batteries of the pagers and detonated them by raising the temperature of the batteries. The planting of the explosives was carried out well before the devices came into the hands of Hezbollah (Sky News Arabic)

- The wave of explosions has left many people in Beirut in a state of confusion and shock. Witnesses reported hearing ringing and then seeing smoke coming out of people's pockets followed by small explosions that sounded like fireworks or gunshots (NYT)

- The agreement between Sa'ar and Bibi is finalized and complete. Sa'ar will be replacing Gallant as Defense Minister. The coalition government was just temporarily put on pause due to the operation against Hezbollah today.

-According to a senior IDF officer who spoke to the heads of communities in the North, Israel is preparing for a 3rd Lebanon War to start imminently. (Channel 14)

- Updated casualty numbers in Lebanon 3,600+ people have been injured,  500 critical,10 dead so far. Additionally, all school classes across the country have been canceled for tomorrow.

- Hezbollah blames Israel for attack that injured civilians promises  retaliation 

- The Israeli security establishment estimates that Hezbollah is preparing to launch a military operation against Israel (Kan 11).

- Senior officers in the IDF from all branches were asked in the last few hours to come to a special discussion that is currently being held in the Kirya. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense are also present.

- The number of injured stands at 2,800, with 200 in critical condition and 8 dead thus far.

- Saudi Al-Hadath channel: Among the wounded/killed - senior Hezbollah commanders and their assistants.

- Hezbollah in its first official announcement: "Pager devices found by some workers in Hezbollah units exploded. A girl and her two brothers were killed, and there were a large number of wounded. The authorized personnel in Hezbollah are conducting an extensive security investigation to clarify the circumstances that led to the explosions. At the same time, the medical services treat the wounded in several hospitals in different areas of Lebanon."

- The devices exploded not only on the bodies of the terrorists but also in houses, closets, drawers, beds, and many other places. In Lebanon, this is defined as "massive elimination.”

‐ Reports 1. The son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese Parliament, Ali Amar, was killed in the operation, and 2. Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's #2, was injured in this operation.

-American official to the R-T network: "From preliminary information that Israel has taken an unusual step, all Hezbollah forces in the Middle East are going to launch an attack on Israel from Yemen to Lebanon"...

-WSJ Report - Exploding pagers were from a new shipment that arrived recently, were carried by hundreds of Hezbollah members. Hezbollah official speculates malware caused the devices to overheat and explode; some members felt pagers getting hot and disposed of them.

- The pagers that exploded were the latest model that Hezbollah imported in recent months, Channel 12 reports

Hezbollah sources told AP that the lithium batteries in their pagers overheated, and that's what caused the explosion. That is to say, some remote hacking or command message caused the batteries to overheat and explode.

- Amit Segal: "A technique of targeted assassination with the results of an extensive ground operation. In one moment, more terrorists were eliminated than any other day in Israel's history except for 10/7." 

- Initial unconfirmed reports that the Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon was injured in this operation.

- Repprts of massive chaos in Lebanon right now. Hospitals across the country are collapsing under the patient load, and some have stopped accepting patients and are diverting ambulances with wounded to distant places.The casualty count is at least 1,200. So far.

- There are hundreds of injuries among Hezbollah fighters after portable pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded in the Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh, the Reuters news agency reports, citing an unnamed security source. The communication devices detonated allegedly after being hacked by Israel.

Unnoficial reports of over 500 wounded so far.

- The Israeli operation is all across Lebanon. Pagers and communication devices exploding on Hezbollah terrorists in the North (Bekaa), South, and Beirut. Casualty numbers are potentially in the 100s.

- Hezbollah source to the Qatari Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper: "Israel hacked into the radios of Hezbollah operatives and blew them up; this is a serious penetration that we will investigate. There are casualties as a result of the explosion, so far there have been no deaths."

- A senior source in Hezbollah: "This penetration of our communication systems is the biggest intelligence breach in the organization's history."