Moreover, the pager/walkie-talkie sabotage was so widespread and successful that anyone who escaped without any injuries will automatically be suspected of working with the Israelis. Double bonus!Caliber said:Its not about blowing up random strangers. It's about disruption and chaos. Killing an infidel is a bonus.JCA1 said:This would give you very little bang for your buck (pun intended). If you just want to blow up random strangers, you don't need this level of sophistication and would do much more damage with a garden variety truck bomb, etc.torrid said:
As much as I love the innovation and creativity in this operation, I'm afraid of terrorists copying the strategy.
They obviously can't intercept large-scale commercial shipments or set up their own front company the way a state actor can. However, they could randomly sell used iPhones on eBay with similar kaboom hacks. That would insert them into the general population and create the terror and fear they desire.
A dozen iphones blowing up across the country with a terrorist org claiming credit would cause so much chaos (especially with a little lie that there are another 10,000 out there...). The business losses could easily be in the billions just due to interruptions, lost productivity, etc. Imagine being afraid of your phone ringing. A car bomb would not cause the same kind of discord.
That is what is the big deal about these pagers. They hurt them yes, but this is a huge interruption to their entire organization. They have slowed them down more than just the personnel lost. They now have to rethink everything.