Tel Aviv

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The conflict between Israel and Iran-aligned Lebanese militant group Hezbollah resumed a year ago when the militant group began firing rockets at Israel in support of Palestinian militants Hamas at the start of the Gaza war.

In September this year, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon's south, killing 40 people and injuring over 3,000 others.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted that he had okayed the explosions in Lebanon. Now, two former agents of Mossad said that the Israeli spy agency spent years orchestrating the plot.

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Waging war through deception and trickery

According to a report by CBS News early Monday (Dec 23), the two recently retired Mossad agents were among those who spearheaded the years-long operation against Hezbollah.

Also read | Netanyahu admits he ‘okayed’ Lebanon pager blasts; talked to US President-elect Trump thrice on Iran threat

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The report said that Mossad's walkie-talkie operation was waging war through deception and trickery, in line with the spy agency's motto. 

Work began on weaponizing the walkie-talkies more than a decade before Israel set them off in September, the report added.

One of the agents, who identified himself as Michael, said that the walkie-talkie was a weapon, "just like a bullet or a missile or a mortar."

Michael said that the battery of the walkie-talkie, which was made in a Mossad facility, included an explosive device. Hezbollah bought more than 16,000 of the exploding devices, some of which were eventually used against them, he added.

The report said that the price of the walkie-talkie could not be too low as Israel did not want Hezbollah to be suspicious. 

Mossad also wanted to hide its identity as the seller and ensure the walkie-talkies couldn't be traced back to Israel. So the spy agency set up shell companies to infiltrate the supply chain.

Walkie-talkies were just not enough

CBS News reported that the walkie-talkies were designed to go into the chest pocket of a tactical vest for soldiers.

However, Mossad wanted to plant a device that Hezbollah members would have on them at all times. Hence, the agency began development on booby-trapped pagers in 2022, the second ex-Mossad agent (who chose to identify himself as Gabriel) said.

Gabriel said Mossad learnt that Hezbollah was buying pagers from Gold Apollo, a company based in Taiwan. 

The Gold Apollo pagers were sleek, and shiny and could fit into pockets. Mossad needed a larger pager to fit explosives inside, he added.

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Gabriel said that using dummies, Mossad carried out tests with the pager inside a padded glove, held next to the dummy's face, to calibrate the grammes of powdered explosive needed to be just enough to hurt the fighter, but not the person next to him.

The retired Mossad agent said that the plan was to hurt Hezbollah members (with pagers), not people nearby. 

Shell companies set up

After convincing Mossad head Dadi Barnea of the pager's merits, Gabriel pointed out that the pager was advertised in fake ads on YouTube. 

The device was touted as being robust, dustproof, waterproof, and also having a long battery life. Gabriel said that Mossad did such a good job promoting the pager that people outside of Hezbollah wanted to buy it.

He added that Israel set up shell companies to dupe Gold Apollo. Mossad fully manufactured the pagers and had a licensing partnership with Gold Apollo. 

"When they (Hezbollah) are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad...," Gabriel said.

(With inputs from agencies)