Two former Israeli intelligence agents have revealed how members of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah used Israeli-made walkie-talkies laced with explosives for 10 years before they were detonated in a surprise attack in September this year.
The two former Mossad agents told US CBS News how the agency tricked Hezbollah into buying thousands of wired walkie-talkies and pagers without realizing they were made in Israel.
Dozens of people were killed and thousands were injured in the attacks. Israel said it targeted only Hezbollah members, but civilians were among the casualties, Lebanese officials said.
The UN human rights chief called the attack a war crime.
At the time of the attack, Israel and Hezbollah were fighting a conflict that has escalated since Hezbollah fired on Israeli positions a day after Hamas' unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
On September 17, 2024 thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously in Lebanon, mainly in areas with a strong Hezbollah presence. The explosions injured or killed users and some bystanders, spreading panic and confusion. The next day, the walkie-talkies exploded in the same manner, killing and injuring hundreds more.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Israel was responsible two months later, Israeli media reported at the time.
In an interview with the American television partner of the BBCthe two former agents revealed details of the operation.
One of the agents, named Michael, said the Mossad had hidden an explosive device in the batteries powering the walkie-talkies, which he said were usually worn in a vest closer to the wearer's heart.
He said Hezbollah unwittingly bought more than 16,000 walkie-talkies at a “good price” from a bogus company 10 years ago.
“We have an incredible array of opportunities to set up foreign companies that have no way of being traced back to Israel,” Michael said. “Shock companies on top of shell companies to influence the supply chain in our favor.
“We create an imaginary world. We are a global production company. We write the script, we are the directors, we are the producers, we are the main actors and the world is our stage.”
The operation expanded two years ago to include pagers, CBS said.
Mossad found that Hezbollah was buying pagers from a Taiwanese company called Gold Apollo at the time, the release said. Creates a fake company that uses the Gold Apollo name on pagers rigged with explosives without the parent company knowing.
CBS said the Mossad planted explosives inside powerful enough to injure only the user.
“We're triple testing, double testing everything, multiple times to make sure there's minimal damage,” said the second agent, whom the program called Gabriel.
It says the Mossad specifically chose a ringtone that sounded urgent enough for someone to check the incoming message.
Gabriel said the agency tricked Hezbollah into buying the pagers, making promotional films and pamphlets and sharing them on the Internet.
“When they buy from us, they have no idea they're buying from the Mossad,” he said. “We're doing like (a movie) The Truman Show, everything is controlled by us behind the scenes.”
Hezbollah has bought 5,000 of the mined pagers by September 2024, CBS said.
They were triggered by Israel when the Mossad feared Hezbollah was becoming suspicious, it said.
The explosions sent shockwaves through Lebanon, with detonations occurring wherever the pagers were carried, including in supermarkets. Hospitals were overflowing with victims, many of them mutilated.
Gabriel said there was a “strong rumor” that people had also fallen victim to then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Days later, with Hezbollah still reeling from the attack, Israel launched intense waves of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets, followed by a ground invasion of Lebanon.
The two sides agreed to a ceasefire on November 26.
Lebanon strongly condemned the pager and walkie-talkie attacks, while the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk said he was left “terrified”.
The method of the attacks, he said, “violated international human rights law and, as applicable, international humanitarian law.”