Hats off to whoever pulled off one of the most ballsy ops in modern-day spy craft that I’m aware of. And I use the term “ballsy” quite intentionally.

Not only did they shock the members of Hezbollah with the remote detonation of thousands of pagers on Tuesday, but they followed up yesterday with the detonation of thousands of smart phones, radios, smart watches, solar panels and (allegedly) even some household appliances.

I was thinking about these clandestine attacks for the last 24 hours. I mean, everyone knows it’s *cough* Israel *cough*, who refuses to comment. But think about what they just accomplished.

First, they infiltrated and compromised the terrorists’ electronics supply chain. It’s not like the Hezbollah chieftains order off of Amazon. They have to skirt international sanctions, and we know that Iran is involved somewhere along the line. That means they had to have understood the logistics involved and planted the explosives in a way that wouldn’t be detected (or after they were inspected, assuming they were).

The second big thing they did was to degrade Hezbollah’s fighting force. The explosions killed 26 (including two children) and wounded at least 3,200 others—some severely, losing eyes or fingers or hands. Depending on injuries, some of them will be out of commission for a few weeks or months, putting pressure on the organization’s command and control grid. And they did it with incredible precision (you can’t prevent all collateral damage).

Next, they severely handicapped the terrorists’ communications network. They’re back to using bicycle couriers and homing pigeons, and neither of those are encrypted. Communication is the connective tissue of any organization and these days it’s made up of bits and bytes.

Not for Hezbollah. No more instantaneous messaging or phone calls. No more email or social media apps on your phone. This sets Hezbollah back to working at a snail’s pace, which will be tough (but not impossible) to adapt to.

Plus, Hezbollah suddenly realizes that *cough* Israel *cough* knows a lot about them. As Laughing Wolf puts it,

… if you think Israel wasn’t watching the hospitals and other locations to see who came in and when, and wasn’t monitoring local social media for news and IDs, I’ve got a bridge for sale… Again, no way for them to know in advance who all the members of Hezballess were. They do now, and can plot that against all the intel from the metadata and…

Then there’s the psychological damage they’ve inflicted. Can you imagine the fear? What will explode next, my refrigerator? I’d be throwing out anything electronic including my PlayStation 2. What will Hezbollah do to rebuild their infrastructure? No way am I carrying a pager or cell phone anytime soon.

Welcome to the terror show, Hezbollah. How does it feel to be on the receiving end?

Other terrorist organizations have to be thinking about their communication devices, too. If *cough* Israel *cough* can simultaneously detonate a few thousand pagers in one country, why wouldn’t they be able to do it in a bunch of other states like, say, Yemen or Iran? You bet other countries are taking a close look at their pagers and phones and smart thermostats today.

It was a brilliant operation and clearly places *whoever it was* at the forefront of the global cloak and dagger games.

Unlike our own clandestine services, which can’t even sweep a golf course for a nutjob hiding in the bushes for 12 hours to take a shot at a former president.