An unleashed Israel is humiliating its enemies

The audacious attack on the Iranian-based terror group Hezbollah is likely to have effectively halted their operations, at least temporarily, crippled their command and control networks, and injured many of their fighters. 
Those of us who have fought Al Qaeda and ISIS in Afghanistan and Iraq are all too familiar with the jihadists’ use of mobile phones and pagers to detonate bombs, which have claimed the lives of many British soldiers. It brings a measure of satisfaction to see the terrorists receive a taste of their own medicine.
This operation exemplifies what is known in military strategy as the “indirect approach.” Coined by British tank commander B. H. Liddell Hart after World War I, this strategy seeks to reduce high casualty rates in conflict zones characterised by dense forces, such as the Western Front. In this case, it targets a fleeting and elusive enemy that hides among civilians, making them difficult to strike without causing extensive collateral damage, as we have seen in Gaza. As the great General Bill Slim aptly put it, “Hit the other fellow as quickly as you can, as hard as you can, where it hurts him most, when he ain’t lookin’.” This principle appears to have guided what was likely a Mossad operation against Hezbollah.
However, this was not a hasty operation. It must have been months in the making. Terrorist leaders quickly realised that their mobile phones were leading Israeli precision-guided weapons straight to their hideouts, resulting in the deaths of several senior commanders in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. In an attempt to counter this, they reverted to lower-tech modes of communication, like pagers. Yet, the Israelis appear to have been one step ahead. In a remarkable operation, an order for 5,000 pagers was intercepted and discreetly embedded a small amount of explosive material in each device. The volatile lithium batteries powering these pagers required only a minor accelerant to ignite. At a predetermined moment, the attack team sent a simple alphanumeric code to each pager, triggering a series of explosions.
While this method may seem like something out of a James Bond film, it is now a reality in the war against terror. Similar tactics have been used in the past; during operations in Afghanistan, we often targeted Taliban “push-to-talk” radios that operated on the same basic principles. There was always a dilemma: should we disrupt their networks to prevent communication or keep them intact to eavesdrop on their plans?
I anticipate there will be much “gnashing of teeth” and wailing from those who, while rightly advocating for Palestinian peace, inadvertently support Iranian proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. But this attack also serves as a significant embarrassment to the Iranian regime, already humiliated by their failed missile strikes on Israel, compounded by the revelation of their ambassador in Beirut being caught in a scandal involving Hezbollah. So it should be welcomed.
We must hope that this impressive operation, which has sent shockwaves through the terrorist world, serves as a catalyst for bringing all parties to the negotiating table.  This situation underscores the imperative for Iran to impose peace on its proxies in the Middle East or risk facing devastating consequences that could destabilise their entire regime.