Chaos: Terrified Hezbollah to Terror Minions: 'Throw Away Anything Electronic!' - Update & Videos

Israel upgraded its explosive "pager war" against the Iranian-backed proxy on Wednesday: walkie-talkies, cellphone shops and laptop computers are booming in Beirut, the Beqa'a Valley, and elsewhere

At least five Hezbollah members are reported dead and at least 300 are wounded in Beirut and elsewhere as initial reports say Israel’s cyber war against the terror group ratcheted up on Wednesday.

One live-streamed video of the funerals of four Hezbollah members killed in Tuesday’s wave of hits was abruptly cut short when an electronic device held by one of the participants exploded alongside officials at the funeral bier.

”Civil Defense authorities in Lebanon are reporting:
”60 apartments and shops caught fire
”15 vehicles exploded
”Dozens of motorcycles were burned
”2 fingerprint devices exploded,” according to Israel Army radio correspondent, Doron Kadosh.

A time-lapse clip from a hilltop vantage point showed numerous explosions taking place across the city:

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As of this post, it is unclear if the detonations in the new wave of explosions were caused by overheated lithium batteries, or by some other physical device or software hack.

Elsewhere, enraged Beirut residents began stoning UNIFIL armored vehicles.

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Early reports in Lebanese and Israeli media as of 6:00 pm Israel time “claimed that Hezbollah told its members to dispose of devices containing a lithium battery or that are connected to the internet,” according to The JPost. 

”Any device that contains a lithium battery and is connected to the Internet or any network, please disconnect it immediately. Please keep wireless devices away from your location permanently,” Hezbollah told their forces.

“Reuters later quoted senior Hezbollah official  Hashem Safieddine as saying the terror group was in a "new phase" and a "punishment is certainly coming.”   

“Reuters also added, according to a security source, that the hand-held radios via which the explosions reportedly occurred were bought by Hezbollah five months ago at the same time as the pagers.”  

Multiple fires in apartment buildings, cars and motorcycles, were apparently a result of the new wave of micro attacks against the group, causing pandemonium in the streets of the once-dubbed “Paris of the Middle East.”

Israel, so far, has not taken responsibility for the series of hundreds of blasts across the country, which, according to Lebanese health officials, have killed over 500 hundred and wounded upwards of four thousand terror group personnel, and others standing nearby.

My previous report on the explosive Land of the Cedars is here.

Lebanese National News Agency reported that “solar energy systems exploded in homes in several areas, injuring a girl,” according to the Associated Press. A photo on Lebanese media also showed an exploded fingerprint reader on a wall.

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Israeli commentator, Gav Kostanov, in a Facebook post considered the possible rationale for the low-payload devices: "Why weren't more of them killed? Seems like a waste to just injure so many."

“The purpose of certain weapons of war is to injure, not kill. Land mines are a good example. Why would you want to injure someone rather than kill them in a war?

“A dead enemy requires no care. No one rushes to his aid. It's not a priority to transport him anywhere. He's just an inert meat sack.

“A moderate to severely injured enemy requires immediate aid. He requires transportation to a medical facility. On average, it takes 2 to 3 other enemy soldiers to care for one wounded one. At least that was the statistic in WW2.

“A dead enemy means one man is removed from the battlefield. A wounded enemy means three or four are removed from the battlefield. If you have, say, 2,000 wounded, you're actually tying up the time, efforts, resources and attention of at least 6,000 to as many as 8,000 enemy fighters.

“In a fighting force of roughly 20,000 full time fighters, that is not an insignificant depletion in available manpower. Oh, coincidentally that's about how many full time fighters Hezbollah has.

“Are you picking up what I'm laying down?”

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Since Oct. 8th, in support of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon - unprovoked - initiated ferocious hostilities against Israel and have, almost a year later, fired over 8000 rockets and drones, mortar shells, and anti-tank rockets at Israeli civilian and military targets. See Alma Research Center graph)

The munition barrages - from the Mediterranean to the Golan Heights, and continuing as of this post - have killed 46 people, wounded and traumatized hundreds more, and forced the evacuation of some 80k northern residents, who are still largely homeless:

Schools and academic institutions across the region are either closed, shifted southwards, or instructed remotely - a poor, jerry-rigged substitute for nominal classes from 1st grade to colleges and technical schools:

Some 400k dunams (quarter-acre) of the northern Galilee and Golan are scorched and barren from raging brush fires caused by the blasts, and whole sectors of the economy - primarily agriculture, tourism and housing - are teetering on financial devastation.

Northern Israel: Between the Rockets and the Flames - My Video Report

The wildfire-scarred Biriya Forest near Tzfat in northern Israel is stark testament to the extent of the war's damage to the ecosystem:

My previous report on the explosive Land of the Cedars is here.