Former spies describe exploding devices attack against Hezbollah

People inspect the remains of a civilian vehicle that was hit by Israeli bombardment in Gaza City. Pic/AFP

Two recently retired senior Israeli intelligence agents shared new details about a deadly clandestine operation years in the making that targeted Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Syria using exploding pagers and walkie talkies three months ago. The agents spoke with CBS ‘60 Minutes' in a segment aired on Sunday night. They wore masks and spoke with altered voices to hide their identities.

10 years in the making

One agent said the operation started 10 years ago using walkie-talkies laden with hidden explosives, which Hezbollah didn't realise it was buying from Israel, its enemy. The walkie-talkies were not detonated until September, a day after booby-trapped pagers were set off. "We created a pretend world," said the officer. The plan using the booby-trapped pagers began in 2022 after Israel's Mossad learned Hezbollah had been buying pagers from a Taiwan-based company, the second officer said.

Getting it right

The pagers were slightly larger, to accommodate the explosives. They were tested on dummies to find the right amount of explosive that would hurt only the Hezbollah fighter and not anyone else in close proximity. Mossad also tested ring tones to find one that sounded urgent enough to make someone pull the pager out of their pocket.

The second agent said it took two weeks to convince Hezbollah to switch to the heftier pager, in part by using false ads on YouTube promoting the devices as dustproof, waterproof, providing a long battery life and more. He described the use of shell companies, including one based in Hungary, to dupe the Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, into unknowingly partnering with the Mossad. By September, Hezbollah militants had 5,000 pagers in their pockets.

The attack and aftermath

Israel triggered the attack on September 17, when pagers across Lebanon started exploding. The next day, Mossad activated the walkie-talkies, some of which exploded at funerals for those killed in the pager attacks. After the explosions, people in Lebanon were afraid to even turn on their air conditioners.

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