As the death toll from the Israeli bombing of Lebanon topped 550 on Sept. 24, Hezbollah warned that Israel is dropping leaflets with barcodes allegedly designed to extract information from electronic devices in the Bekaa Valley.
“The Zionist enemy is dropping leaflets with a barcode on them in the Bekaa region, and may drop them in other places,” Hezbollah’s media office said in a statement. “Please do not open or circulate the barcode.”
The Lebanese political party and paramilitary group urged anyone in Lebanon who comes across a leaflet to “destroy it immediately because it is very dangerous and withdraws all the information you have.”
Just before launching this bombing campaign, Israel detonated thousands of pagers and other electronic devices across Lebanon, an operation that rights experts characterized as terrorism.
Reuters noted Sept. 24 that “Hezbollah’s media office did not say if anything else was written on the flyers” and “there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.”
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Sept. 24 social media post directed at Lebanese citizens that “our war is not with you, our war is with Hezbollah,” according to a translation from the Independent.
Hezbollah is “leading you to the brink of the abyss. … Rid yourself from Nasrallah’s grip, for your own good,” he added, referring to Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s leader. “Anyone who has a missile in their living room and a rocket in their garage will not have a home.”
In a similar message posted later in English, Netanyahu said, “Get out of harm’s way, now.”
Drop Site News reported Sept. 23 that residents of southern Lebanon “began receiving text messages and calls with audio recordings warning them to leave their homes and villages,” and the Israel Defense Forces “Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee also posted several ominous messages” on social media.
Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said Sept. 24 that at least 50 children and 95 women are among the 558 people who have been killed in Israeli attacks since Sept. 23 according to Middle East Monitor. Another 1,835 have been injured.
“The majority of the victims in the Israeli attacks since Monday (Sept. 23) morning are defenseless civilians in their homes,” the minister said, refuting Israel’s claims that it is targeting Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on social media Sept. 23 that “the escalating crisis in Lebanon is frightening. … The toll on civilians is unacceptable. Political leaders must bring solutions. An end to the hostilities is urgently needed.”
Grandi added Sept. 24 that “Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon are now relentlessly claiming hundreds of civilian lives,” including at least two of his colleagues.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 24, U.S. President Joe Biden said that “full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest” and despite the recent escalation in Lebanon, “a diplomatic solution is still possible—in fact, it remains the only path to lasting security.”
The United States is Israel’s most significant ally, and Biden has faced global criticism—and even charges of complicity in genocide in the Gaza Strip—for continuing to send weapons to the Israeli forces over the past year. As Common Dreams reported Sept. 23, the bombing campaign in Lebanon has elevated calls for the U.S. to impose an arms embargo.
—Jessica Corbett, CommonDreams.org
