The Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, dedicated over ten years to orchestrating an operation that led to the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies throughout Lebanon in September, as reported by CBS following interviews with two recently retired senior agents who played pivotal roles in the initiative.
According to CBS sources, Mossad initially focused on walkie-talkies, developing a battery that housed an explosive device. The agency then infiltrated the supply chain using a network of shell companies to obscure its involvement.
“We create a pretend world. We are a global production company: We write the screenplay, we’re the directors, we’re the producers, we’re the main actors,” stated one of the former agents. Ultimately, Israeli operatives are said to have sold over 16,000 of these explosive walkie-talkies to the militant group Hezbollah, as detailed in the report.
Mossad did not stop there; they targeted devices that Hezbollah members would carry “at all times.” This led to the introduction of pagers in 2022. The two former agents indicated that the agency conducted extensive testing to ascertain the precise amount of explosives required to injure a pager user while minimizing collateral damage.
The devices created by Mossad were reportedly devoid of any intelligence functions and were incapable of tracking or surveillance. A former operative noted, “There’s almost no way to tap it,” emphasizing that the pagers were essentially small explosives.
Mossad discovered that Hezbollah was procuring these devices from a Taiwanese company named Gold Apollo. In response, it established several shell companies, including one in Hungary, to mislead Gold Apollo into collaboration while keeping its plans concealed from the Taiwanese firm. The intelligence agency took full control of the production of the pagers, which were then marketed through its authorized partnership with Gold Apollo.
Additionally, the agency employed the saleswoman from Gold Apollo who was engaged with Hezbollah to promote their product. They also launched an extensive fake advertising campaign on platforms like YouTube and other online venues, which included fabricated testimonials endorsing the quality of their pagers.
“When [Hezbollah] purchases from us, they have no idea they are dealing with Mossad. It’s like the ‘Truman Show’; everything is orchestrated by us behind the scenes,” remarked one former agent. By September 2024, the Lebanese group had acquired approximately 5,000 pagers, as reported by CBS.
These initiatives were designed to incapacitate and intimidate their adversaries, as acknowledged by former agents. “Our goal is to make them feel exposed, which they indeed are,” stated a former Mossad operative. Another operative indicated that the intelligence agency intended for those ensnared in the scheme to act as a living cautionary tale for Israel’s enemies.
“Those individuals who are missing hands and eyes serve as tangible evidence, walking in Lebanon, of ‘don’t challenge us,’” he conveyed to CBS. The attacks on September 17 resulted in the deaths of at least 42 individuals, including 12 civilians, and left over 3,500 injured, among them women and children. For months, West Jerusalem denied any connection to the events until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged responsibility for the attacks in mid-November.
The operation faced widespread international backlash, with UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk labeling it a “shocking” and “unacceptable” violation of human rights laws. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described it as a “blatant example of terrorist tactics.”
