Israel's Intricate History of Attacks Highlighted by Recent Exploding Pagers Incident

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have accused Israel of orchestrating an attack involving the detonation of hundreds of pagers. This incident, which occurred on Tuesday, resulted in at least nine fatalities and nearly 3,000 injuries. Many victims were Hezbollah members, though it remains unclear if others also had pagers. Among the deceased were a Hezbollah politician's son and an eight-year-old girl, as reported by Lebanon's health minister.

The attack has heightened tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. These tensions have been escalating since the October 7 attack by Hamas last year, which led to conflict in Gaza. Iran's ambassador to Lebanon was also injured in the pager explosions. Israel often refrains from claiming responsibility for such incidents, and its military did not comment on Tuesday.

Israel's History of Remote Operations

Israel is known for conducting sophisticated remote operations. These include cyberattacks, remote-controlled machine gun assassinations, suicide drone strikes, and explosions at secret Iranian nuclear sites. Despite not acknowledging involvement in many attacks, Israel has a history of such operations.

In past events attributed to Israel, two major militant leaders were killed in strikes within hours of each other in Beirut and Tehran. Hamas accused Israel of assassinating its leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Although Israel did not confirm this, it did claim responsibility for killing Fouad Shukur, a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Notable Israeli Military Actions

Israel targeted Mohammed Deif, a Hamas military commander, in a significant strike in southern Gaza. This attack killed at least 90 people, including children. The Israeli military announced Deif's death in August, but Hamas claimed he survived. Two Iranian generals died in what Iran described as an Israeli strike on its consulate in Syria.

This led Iran to launch an attack on Israel with about 300 missiles and drones, most of which were intercepted. An Israeli drone strike in Beirut killed Saleh Arouri, a top Hamas official in exile. Seyed Razi Mousavi, an adviser to Iran's Revolutionary Guard in Syria, was killed near Damascus; Iran blamed Israel.

Cyberattacks and Assassinations

An underground nuclear facility in central Iran suffered explosions and a cyberattack causing blackouts. Iran accused Israel of these attacks and others using explosive drones over the years. A prominent assassination involved Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian nuclear scientist killed by a remote-controlled machine gun near Tehran; Iran blamed Israel.

In another incident, an Israeli airstrike killed Bahaa Abu el-Atta, an Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza Strip, along with his wife. Ahmad Jabari of Hamas was killed when his car was targeted by an airstrike, sparking an eight-day war between Hamas and Israel.

Historical Context of Israeli Operations

The Stuxnet virus discovered in 2010 disrupted Iranian nuclear centrifuges and was believed to be a US-Israeli creation. Ahmed Yassin, Hamas' spiritual leader, was killed by an Israeli helicopter strike while being pushed in his wheelchair. His successor Abdel Aziz Rantisi died less than a month later in an airstrike.

Salah Shehadeh, Hamas' second-highest military leader, was killed by a bomb dropped on an apartment building in Gaza City. Mossad agents attempted to kill Khaled Mashaal using poison but were captured; Jordan demanded an antidote to save Mashaal's life.

Yahya Ayyash, known as "the engineer" for his bomb-making skills for Hamas, died when a rigged phone exploded. His death led to deadly bus bombings in Israel. Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), PLO military chief and deputy to Yasser Arafat, was killed in Tunisia by Israeli commandos during a raid that targeted Palestinian leaders after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.