From a military targeting aspect, this was a beautifully planned and orchestrated precision attack on a terrorist cell (Hezbollah). This is about as far from an indiscriminate carpet bombing as you can get. Yes, there is a chance that familiar members of terrorists might be injured or killed. I am sure they had those numbers projected in the ops plan and those numbers were deemed acceptable by the signature authority.
I could see your point if Mossad heard Hezzbolah were getting Motorola 5000’s, and they booby trapped every Motorola 5000 pager, irregardless on whom got issued a pager. But in this case, they blew up terrorists pagers. I would not be surprised if Mossad started the whisper campaign that cell phones were unsafe and they should switch to pagers. Got the ball rolling for phase 2.
Later in my military career, I was involved in some similar operations against terrorists. This operation is going to be a high side case study for some special training classes in Northern Virginia. Not only did it result in some physical damage/death, but the real desired effect is the psychological damage that will haunt Hezbollah for decades.
