© Bilal Hussein/APDamaged cars at the site of Israel's strike on Beirut's southern suburbs • September 21, 2024
How long will it be before China and Russia learn how to blow up their foes' gadgets, asks one pundit, exposing the West's collective delusion.
On September 17, Israel launched one of the largest and cruelest terrorist attacks in modern history.
For Lebanon and Syria, the victim countries, 9/17 will now have a meaning akin to that of 9/11 in the US. That date will be remembered for a very long time, and beyond those two states,
as the start of two waves of explosions, mostly affecting pagers on the first day and
walkie-talkies the following day. There have been reports of other everyday objects, such as
laptops and tablets as well as solar energy systems blowing up as well.
While some details are still murky, we already know that the attacks were devastating: According to an
Amnesty International summary from September 20,
more than 2,931 victims were injured and at least 37 were killed. Amnesty International tends to be cautious and conservative with its figures, and it is still too early for a full assessment of casualties and damage.
It is certain that the final count will be worse.Events are moving fast. The onslaught seems to have served to either provoke or start a larger war;
UN General Secretary António Guterres quickly - and plausibly - suspected that
9/17 was meant as a preventive strike and prelude to a larger escalation. It has been followed by more and increasingly brutal bombings and massacres, in the manner that we know so well from the rogue state Israel. For now, it is already clear that after a horrific scene of mass terror in shops, streets, and homes, many of the victims of 9/17 have been injured severely, often leaving them with
"life-changing injuries."
Comment: Hunter offers fair observations, given what we know and reasonably suspect.