Israels pager blasts sent just the right message to Hezbollah

That was some sublime act of counterterrorism — remotely detonating sabotaged pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices belonging to Hezbollah terrorists.Good for Israel — even though it’s not taking credit.The operation left at least 26 dead and thousands of terrorists hospitalized.It also hobbled the Iran-backed terror group’s ability to communicate, and will force its members to take extra precautions for whatever they plan to do next: Will their computers soon explode? Their cars? Their rockets?The move was exquisitely calibrated, hitting Hez’s thugs with minimal harm to civilians (as is typical with Israeli military operations).The strikes will remind all Israel’s enemies that attacking it also puts them, and those around them, at risk.And this was no escalation, just a response (or the start of one): Since Oct.7, Hezbollah’s shot some 8,000 drones, missiles and rockets into Israel, igniting massive fires, killing Druze kids and forcing the evacuation of nearly 100,000 Israelis.

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So the pager op was entirely justified: Jerusalem has demanded Hezbollah end the rocket fire and relocate north of the Litani River, about 18 miles north of the border — or risk an all-out war with the Jewish state.Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, worse-than-useless UN peacekeepers were supposed to see that Hezbollah was disarmed south of the river but haven’t done so in the 18 years since the resolution was passed.Israel doesn’t want war, but Hezbollah has shown no sign it’s willing to relocate and halt its rocket fire.Which means full-scale war is inevitable: Israel on Tuesday modified its formal war goals to include retuning residents to their homes near the Lebanon border.It’s also ...