As has been widely reported, thousands of handheld pagers used by Hezbollah simultaneously exploded across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, leaving at least 12 people dead and roughly 2,800 injured.
On Wednesday, hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated, leaving at least 20 people dead and more than 450 wounded. Israel would neither confirm nor deny that it was responsible for the deadly attacks.
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It has also been widely reported that Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, intercepted a large shipment of Hezbollah-bound pagers months ago and rigged them with high explosives.
However, according to a bombshell report by The New York Times on Thursday, Israel didn’t intercept and hack the pagers — it manufactured them.
The stunning NYT report alleges that a Hungarian firm that supplied pagers used by Hezbollah was secretly set up by Israeli intelligence agents as part of a wide-scale operation that appeared to culminate this week when the devices exploded.
Here’s more, via The Times:
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the explosions, but 12 current and former defense and intelligence officials who were briefed on the attack say the Israelis were behind it, describing the operation as complex and long in the making. They spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the subject.
By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.
B.A.C. did take on ordinary clients, for which it produced a range of ordinary pagers. But the only client that really mattered was Hezbollah, and its pagers were far from ordinary. Produced separately, they contained batteries laced with the explosive PETN, according to the three intelligence officers.
The pagers began shipping to Lebanon in the summer of 2022 in small numbers, but production was quickly ramped up. Over the summer [of 2024], shipments of the pagers to Lebanon increased, with thousands arriving in the country and being distributed among Hezbollah officers and their allies, according to two American intelligence officials.
The Times also said that unbeknownst to Hezbollah, Israel had been secretly manufacturing the pagers that the terrorist group had been buying for years. Taiwanese company Gold Apollo had contracted with B.A.C. Consulting — one of three shell companies that Israel created to mask the true manufacturer of the communications equipment.
As The Times of Israel reported, the handheld radios were purchased by Hezbollah roughly five months ago, around the same time as the pagers.
Israel didn’t intercept the pagers. It built a fake company and manufactured the pagers themselves.
Imagine the paranoia that must be running through Hezbollah now. If Israel can do this, what it can it do in a war? No wonder they’re so afraid to escalate. pic.twitter.com/LgaRuPa0Gu
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) September 19, 2024
