By Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency infiltrated Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization by embedding a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-manufactured pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered months prior to the detonations that occurred on Tuesday. This information was disclosed by a senior Lebanese security source and corroborated by another source speaking to Reuters.
The operation represented an unprecedented security breach for Hezbollah, leading to the detonation of thousands of pagers across Lebanon. The blasts resulted in nine fatalities and nearly 3,000 injuries, impacting Hezbollah fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut among others.
Iran-supported Hezbollah has declared its intention to retaliate against Israel. However, the Israeli military has refrained from commenting on the incident.
Sources indicated that the plot had been in development for several months. According to the senior Lebanese security source, Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 beepers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, which were reportedly imported into Lebanon earlier this year.
The senior Lebanese security source identified the model of the pager as AP924, a device that can receive and display text messages but does not support telephone calls. Two sources familiar with Hezbollah’s operations revealed that the group has been utilizing pagers as a low-tech communication method to evade Israeli location tracking.
The same senior Lebanese source explained that Mossad had modified the devices during the production stage. Mossad “injected a board inside of the device that contains explosive material which can be triggered by a code, making detection extremely difficult,” the source stated.
A coded message sent to the pagers activated the explosives in 3,000 of the devices simultaneously, another security source confirmed. This source noted that up to three grams of explosives were concealed in the pagers and had evaded Hezbollah detection for months.
Both Israel and Gold Apollo did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters. Analysis of photographs of the destroyed pagers showed formats and stickers consistent with Gold Apollo’s products based in Taipei.
Hezbollah was significantly affected by the attack, leading to numerous injuries and fatalities. A Hezbollah official, who requested anonymity, described the detonations as the group’s “biggest security breach” since the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas began on October 7.
“This is likely the biggest counterintelligence failure Hezbollah has experienced in decades,” commented Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy national intelligence officer on the Middle East for the U.S. government.
Hezbollah had devised a war plan in February to address weaknesses in its intelligence infrastructure, following the loss of around 170 fighters to targeted Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including a senior commander and a prominent Hamas official in Beirut.
On February 13, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah had warned supporters via a televised speech about the dangers of their mobile phones, suggesting they should destroy, bury, or secure them to prevent compromise. Consequently, pagers were distributed across the group’s various branches to maintain communication while attempting to bypass location tracking.
However, the explosions resulted in severe injuries to many Hezbollah members. Hospital footage reviewed by Reuters showed men with various injuries, such as facial wounds, missing fingers, and severe hip injuries, where pagers were likely carried.
The timing of the pager blasts coincided with heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, stemming from the ongoing Gaza conflict since Hamas-led gunmen attacked on October 7. The conflict has seen a series of missile exchanges across the Israel-Lebanon border, raising fears of a broader regional conflict involving the United States and Iran.
Hezbollah publicly stated that it does not seek a wider war but will respond if Israel initiates one. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant informed U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the opportunity for a diplomatic resolution with Hezbollah is closing.
Despite the pager blasts, experts do not see them as a precursor to an imminent Israeli ground offensive. Instead, the incident highlights the extent of Israeli intelligence penetration into Hezbollah. Paul Pillar, a veteran of the U.S. intelligence community with extensive CIA experience, noted that the incident showcases Israel’s capability to infiltrate its adversaries dramatically.
