Last week, thousands of small explosions rocked Lebanon, as pagers presumably carried by Hezbollah members exploded simultaneously. The following day, as mourners gathered to bury the dead, a fresh series of additional explosions erupted, this time targeting walkie-talkies.
Since then, international law commentators have made numerous cases arguing that the attacks might have been unlawful. Most of these critiques center on civilian harm, challenging former Israeli military spokesperson Jonathan Conricus’ characterization of the attack as “the most surgical strike in history.” However, even if not a single civilian were harmed in these attacks, they might still violate the laws of war, because those laws also protect soldiers.
To be sure, as law professor Giacomo Biggio details, civilians were harmed in the attacks. When the Israeli military intentionally detonated the pagers, it had no way to monitor or track where they were located or who was holding them. As a result, the explosions took place in busy markets, traffic jams, homes, funeral processions and other places where significant harm to civilians was almost preordained. In other cases, children or other civilians were in possession of the devices when they exploded, making this tactic arguably akin to laying landmines in a civilian area.