The explosions of wireless pagers by members of the Lebanese Hezbollah group continue to raise many questions about their source, method of detonation, and supply chains. A report by the Washington Post revealed new details about what it described as “an intelligence operation carried out by the Israeli Mossad to infiltrate the party.”

The American newspaper explained that the Mossad worked to provide Hezbollah elements with “booby-trapped” communication devices, noting that the Israeli intelligence agency was able, through careful planning over years and advanced technology, to plant time bombs in the hands of members of the Lebanese group.

The report stated that two years ago, Hezbollah was offered the Apollo AR924 pager, which was described as suitable for the group’s needs for communication among its sprawling elements. Although a somewhat bulky device, it is rugged, designed to withstand the conditions of the battlefield, waterproof, has a large battery that can operate for months without needing to be recharged, and cannot be tracked by Israeli intelligence.

She pointed out that "Hezbollah leaders were so impressed with these devices that they bought 5,000 of them and began distributing them to mid-level fighters and support personnel last February."

The newspaper said that the information contained in the report, including new details, is based on interviews with security officials, politicians, Israeli and American diplomats, as well as Lebanese officials and people close to Hezbollah, who all spoke on condition of anonymity about a years-long plan that began at Mossad headquarters.

"Designed by Mossad...and assembled in Israel"

According to informed Israeli and American officials, the idea for “Operation Pager” originated in 2022, and parts of the plan began to take shape more than a year before Hamas’s October attack on southern Israel, a time of relative calm on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

The newspaper said, quoting its sources, that "Mossad worked for years to penetrate Hezbollah through electronic surveillance and recruiting agents. Over time, the party's leaders realized how vulnerable the group was to Israeli surveillance and penetration, to the point that they feared that even ordinary mobile phones would turn into eavesdropping and tracking devices controlled by Tel Aviv."

According to officials, “the idea of the pager was born from this principle, as Hezbollah was looking for electronic networks that were immune to hacking to transmit messages, and the Mossad came up with the idea of pushing the organization to buy devices that seemed ideal for this task, which were designed by the Israeli agency itself and assembled in Tel Aviv.”

The first stage

The first stage of the plan, the “booby-trapped” walkie-talkies, began being infiltrated into Lebanon by Mossad nearly a decade ago in 2015. The devices contained large batteries, hidden explosives, and a transmission system that gave Israel full access to Hezbollah’s communications.

“For nine years, the Israelis were content to eavesdrop on Hezbollah, while retaining the option of turning the wireless devices into bombs at any time,” the newspaper quoted the officials as saying. “But then a new opportunity came: a small wireless device equipped with powerful explosives. In an irony that did not become clear until several months later, Hezbollah ended up paying the Israelis indirectly for the small bombs that killed and wounded its members.”

Since Hezbollah leaders were aware of the “potential sabotage” intent, the pagers could not have come from Israel, the United States, or any other Israeli ally. So, in 2023, the group began considering offers to purchase large quantities of these devices, which are branded Apollo, a Taiwanese brand with a production line distributed globally and without any apparent ties to Israeli interests. “The Taiwanese company was not aware of the plan,” the officials said.

The sales pitch came from a trusted Hezbollah marketing executive with ties to Apollo. The executive, whose identity or nationality officials declined to disclose, was a former Middle East sales representative for the Taiwanese company and had licenses to sell Apollo-branded pagers. Sometime in 2023, she offered Hezbollah a deal to purchase one of her company’s products, the powerful and reliable AR924.

"Powerful explosives inside the battery"

“She was the one who communicated with Hezbollah, explaining to them why the device with the larger battery was better than the original model,” said an Israeli official familiar with the details of the operation, adding that “among the main advantages of the AR924 is that it can be charged with a cable, and its battery lasts longer.”

As it turns out, the actual production of the devices was outsourced, and “the marketing officer had no knowledge of the operation, nor was she aware that the pagers were actually assembled in Israel under Mossad supervision,” the officials said.

The special devices assembled by Mossad, each weighing less than 3 ounces, included a unique feature: a battery compartment that could conceal a small amount of powerful explosives, according to officials familiar with the plan.

“In an engineering feat, the bomb’s components were so carefully concealed that they would be virtually undetectable, even if the device were dismantled,” the officials noted. Israeli officials believe that “Hezbollah has already dismantled some of the devices, and may have X-rayed them.”

“These devices could also be accessed remotely by the Mossad,” the officials added. “An electronic signal from the intelligence agency could cause thousands of devices to explode simultaneously, but to ensure maximum damage, the explosion could also be triggered by a special two-step procedure to display secure messages that were encrypted.”

“You have to press two buttons to read the message,” one official said, and in practice that meant using both hands. “In the ensuing explosion, it is almost certain that the users will be injured in their hands and thus unable to participate in combat,” the official added. “Encrypted message” Most senior Israeli officials were unaware of the operation until September 12, when Israeli officials said that “this is the day that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned his intelligence advisers to a meeting to discuss possible measures against Hezbollah.” According to a summary of the meeting held weeks later by informed officials, “Mossad officials provided a first glimpse into one of the agency’s most secretive operations. By then, the Israelis had placed booby-trapped communication devices in the hands and pockets of thousands of Hezbollah fighters.” Israeli intelligence officials also spoke of “their constant anxiety as the crisis in southern Lebanon escalated, as there was a growing risk that the explosives would be discovered, and years of careful planning and deception would come to nothing,” according to the newspaper. The newspaper quoted officials as saying that “a heated debate took place in the Israeli security establishment, as everyone, including Netanyahu, realized that blowing up thousands of devices could “It would do serious damage to Hezbollah, but it could also provoke a violent response from the group, including a massive retaliatory missile strike by its surviving leaders, with Iran potentially joining the conflict,” an Israeli official said. Some, including senior Israeli military officials, warned of the possibility of a full-scale escalation with Hezbollah, even as Israeli soldiers continued their war in Gaza. But others, particularly the Mossad, saw the operation as an opportunity to change the status quo with “something more intense.” The United States, Israel’s closest ally, was not informed of the booby-trapped pager operation or of the internal debate over whether to carry it out, U.S. officials said. Netanyahu eventually approved the operation, even though it could do maximum damage. Over the next week, the Mossad began preparing to blow up both the pagers and the walkie-talkies that had already been distributed.