People gather as smoke rises from a mobile shop in Sidon, Lebanon as Hezbollah communication devices explode across the country on Sept. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Hassan Hankir

The pager attack targeting thousands of Hezbollah terrorists — which Israel is believed to be behind — stands as one of the most precise, large-scale counterterrorism operations ever conducted.

CCTV footage from Beirut and its suburbs reveals the meticulous coordination of the blasts, showing members of the Iranian-backed Lebanese group struck by explosions from booby-trapped devices they were carrying.

While Israel has not officially commented or acknowledged any responsibility, a former Israeli official, quoted by Axios, stated that Israeli intelligence planted explosives in devices Hezbollah had imported for a future operation. The attack was expedited to prevent Hezbollah from uncovering the trap.

Though some details of Tuesday’s events remain unclear — like the devices’ origin and how they were rigged — one fact is indisputable, confirmed even by Hezbollah: this was a precision strike targeting their militants within a globally recognized terrorist organization.

Even if we put aside @DailyMailUK‘s erroneous reference to Tel Aviv, why is it Israel that is held responsible for putting the “Middle East on the brink” by allegedly responding to a terrorist org that has been launching attacks since Oct. 8?

Here’s some more poor coverage. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/wfwsE7F9Lu

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) September 18, 2024

This truth was largely obscured by international media outlets in their early coverage of the attack.

Several outlets, including The Guardian, BBC, and the UK’s Daily Mirror, found creative ways to sidestep mentioning Hezbollah altogether in headlines, referring to it instead as an “exploding pager attack in Lebanon.”

The Mirror went a step further, calling it a “bizarre” incident, suggesting that thousands of random people — and their pagers — were the targets, rather than Hezbollah militants.

Meanwhile, ABC News framed the event as “wireless devices” mysteriously exploding “in the hands of their owners,” despite quoting a Hezbollah-owned media outlet as its source.

A “Major Escalation”?

Another glaring issue in Tuesday’s coverage was how the media framed the attack as pushing the Middle East to the brink of major escalation.

This narrative dominated reports from journalists, security analysts, and defense experts filing from the comfort of their offices in London and New York. The Daily Mail’s front page, for example, breathlessly warned of the “Middle East on the Brink,” while also managing to misidentify Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital in a confused splash.

It’s telling to compare this headline with the Daily Mail’s coverage of Hezbollah’s rocket strike on Majdal Shams, which killed 12 Druze children.

Not once did the outlet accuse Hezbollah of destabilizing the region, despite the direct hit on a soccer field full of kids.

Indeed, a July article by the Daily Mail about the Majdal Shams tragedy flipped the narrative entirely, claiming Israel would “expand [the] war on new fronts” after responding to the attack with a targeted drone strike on top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

While The Guardian quietly amended a headline on a piece by its defense and security editor Dan Sabbagh after being called out by HonestReporting for blaming Israel for escalating the conflict, the outlet’s global affairs correspondent, Andrew Roth, still described the “exploding pager attack” as “another blow for US peace hopes.”

Apparently, Roth doesn’t think Hezbollah’s frequent, indiscriminate attacks on Israel have done anything to hinder peace efforts.

 

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Meanwhile, an article in The Washington Post — which was passed off as “analysis” — argued that Israel targeting terrorists was proof of its “hunger for war” and a desire to “escalate” tensions in the region.

At the same time, the piece commended Iran and Hezbollah — who have repeatedly vowed to wipe Israel off the map — for their “great deal of restraint.”

Every headline from any reputable news outlet should have been simple: “Israel Targets Hezbollah Terrorists in Precision Pager Attack.”

That’s it. That’s what we know happened.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.