Israeli intelligence not only tampered with the deadly Hezbollah beepers, it also manufactured them from scratch, setting up a complex network of front companies across Europe, it was claimed today.
It was initially suspected that the Mossad had managed to intercept and plant small bombs in a shipment of pagers destined for the Iranian-backed terrorist group in Lebanon, injuring thousands of people and killing dozens.
But now it turns out that the Israelis have set up front companies all over Europe to produce the pagers themselves. They pack small amounts of PETN explosives into the pagers, which can then be detonated with a coded message.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the explosions, but 12 current and former defense and intelligence officials told the New York Times that the Israelis were behind them, describing the operation as “complex and protracted.”
A man was injured after his pager exploded in Beirut on Tuesday
Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, who studied in London and lists “disaster management” as one of her skills, is named as the Chief Executive of the Hungary-based company BAC Consulting that was initially believed to have supplied the devices to the Lebanese group. She denies any knowledge of the alleged plot
An undated file image of an Apollo pager, similar to the pagers that exploded on September 17
Chaotic scenes in a store as a pager explodes in Lebanon on Tuesday
A pager was destroyed in an explosion on Tuesday. About 2,800 people were injured in the explosions
Chaotic scenes in hospitals in Lebanon on Tuesday evening after explosions
A person is carried on a stretcher outside the American University of Beirut Medical Center after Tuesday’s attacks
Ten people were killed when explosions occurred in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday
Israeli spies were working on their ingenious plan long before February, when Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Israel was using cellphone networks to track the location of its operatives.
“You ask me where the officer is,” Nasrallah told his followers in a televised address.
“I’m telling you that the phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, in your children’s hands, is the agent.”
Then he urged them, “Bury it. Put it in an iron chest and lock it.”
He has been pushing for years for Hezbollah to invest in pagers instead. These devices, despite their limited capabilities, can receive data without revealing the user’s location or other compromising information.
According to the New York Times, BAC Consulting in Budapest, Hungary, was one of the Mossad’s shell companies. The company was set up to produce the devices on behalf of the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo.
Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Gold Apollo, told reporters on Wednesday that the company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years.
“Under the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand for the sale of products in designated regions, but the design and production of the products are the sole responsibility of BAC,” Gold Apollo said in a statement.
At least two other shell companies, one of them in Sofia and headed by a Norwegian businessman, were set up to hide the real identities of the pagers’ makers: Israeli intelligence officers.
It is not known to what extent the legitimate businessmen running the companies were involved in the final plan or were aware of it. One example is British-trained physicist Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, who denies knowledge of the plot.
BAC took on ordinary clients, for whom it produced a series of ordinary pagers. But for Mossad, the only client that really mattered was Hezbollah, and those pagers were anything but ordinary.
The individually produced units contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN, according to the three intelligence officials who spoke to the NYT.
The pagers were shipped to Lebanon in small numbers in the summer of 2022, but production was quickly ramped up after Mr Nasrallah gave a speech condemning mobile phones.
Not only did Nasrallah ban cell phones from Hezbollah militants’ meetings, he also ordered that details about the group’s movements and plans never be communicated via cell phone and that officers must carry a pager at all times, inadvertently further playing into the hands of the Israelis.
A man was injured after his pager exploded in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday
Lebanese media reported that Israel managed to hack pagers and detonate them
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffins of a person killed after hundreds of beepers exploded in a deadly wave in Lebanon the day before, September 18
Devices started beeping Tuesday afternoon. Trying to turn them off caused a detonation
The aftermath of the second wave of explosions on Wednesday in Baalbek, Lebanon
This summer, the number of pagers sent to Lebanon increased, with thousands arriving in the country and being distributed to Hezbollah officers and their allies, two U.S. intelligence officials told The New York Times.
To Hezbollah they were a defensive measure, but in Israel, intelligence officers called the beepers “buttons” that could be pressed when the time was right.
That moment came this week.
To trigger the explosions, Israel set off the pagers and sent a message in Arabic to the pagers, three intelligence and defense officials said. The message appeared to come from Hezbollah’s top leadership.
Seconds later, Lebanon was in chaos. About 2,800 people were injured and a dozen killed as explosions ripped through the country and parts of Syria.
Emergency services came under further strain on Wednesday when walkie-talkies also used by Hezbollah exploded, injuring 450 people and killing nine.