Two former Israeli intelligence agents provided new details about a deadly covert operation that Israel had been planning for years, and three months ago targeted Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and Syria using explosive pagers and walkie-talkies.
This came in an interview with the American program “60 Minutes” that was broadcast on Sunday evening on the American CBS News network.
The two agents, who appeared under the aliases “Michael” and “Gabriel” wearing masks and speaking in a modified voice to hide their identities, described how the Mossad developed a complex array of shell companies (companies that exist only on paper) internationally to distribute the captured devices.
One of the agents said, “The operation began ten years ago using walkie-talkies containing hidden explosives, which Hezbollah did not realize it was purchasing from Israel, its enemy.” These devices did not explode until last September, the day after the bomb-laden transmitters (pagers) were detonated.
The officer, who gave his name as “Michael,” added: “We created an imaginary world.”
As for the second phase of the plan, in which booby-trapped pagers were used, “it began in 2022 after the Israeli Mossad learned that Hezbollah was purchasing pagers from a company based in Taiwan, as the second agent mentioned.”
He claimed that the pagers had to be made slightly larger to accommodate the amount of explosives hidden inside them. It was tested several times on dummies to find the right amount of explosive that would harm only the fighter but no harm to people nearby.
Mossad also tested several ring tones to find one that sounded urgent enough to make a person pull the pager out of his pocket.
The second agent, who went by the name “Gabriel,” said, “It took two weeks to convince Hezbollah to change the devices to larger pagers, in part using fake ads on YouTube touting the devices as being dust- and water-resistant and having a long battery life.”
He also described using front companies, including a Hungary-based company, to trick Taiwanese company Gold Apollo into subconsciously cooperating with the Mossad.
Thousands of Hezbollah members, civilians and employees of various institutions in Lebanon and Syria were killed and injured by pager and radio explosions last September. This operation was followed by Israel’s assassination of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and his successor, Hashem Safi al-Din, in conjunction with The start of ground operations in southern Lebanon and intense bombing of various areas.
The Israeli bombing operations caused the death of more than 4,000 Hezbollah members and civilians, and the injury of about 16,500 others, during the period extending from October 2023 to November 2024, the date of signing a truce agreement between Israel and Lebanon, and Israeli forces are still deployed in several villages and towns in the south. Bombing and bombing operations are carried out almost daily.
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