Israel has not confirmed or denied any role in the explosions in Lebanon, but 12 current and former defence and intelligence officials believe the country is behind the attack
Intelligence officials have claimed the Israeli Secret Service didn’t tamper with the Hezbollah exploding pagers but built them from scratch after planning the attack for years.
Israel has not confirmed or denied any role in the explosions in Lebanon, but 12 current and former defence and intelligence officials told the New York Times the Israelis were behind it, describing the operation as ‘complex and long’. Initially it was suspected that the pagers had been intercepted on their way to the Iranian-backed terror group and had tiny bombs planted in them.
But now it appears that the Israelis set up front companies across Europe to manufacture the pagers themselves, embedding small amounts of explosive inside, ready to be detonated by a coded message. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that Israel was using cellphone networks to pinpoint the locations of his operatives, during a televised speech.
He had been pushing for Hezbollah to invest instead in pagers, which although have more limited capabilities compared to a smartphone, mean they can receive data without giving away a user’s location or other personal information. Over this summer, 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 who have spoken to the New York Times.
To set off the explosions, according to intelligence and defence officials, Israel triggered the pagers to beep and sent a message to them in Arabic that appeared as though it had come from Hezbollah’s senior leadership. Earlier this week around 2,800 people were injured and a dozen killed as explosions rippled through the country and parts of Syria.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati today called on the UN to oppose Israel’s ‘technological war’ on his country.
