Former Mossad agents reveal deadly operation targeting Hezbollah, warns ’already moved on to...’

Two retired senior Israeli intelligence officers recently in an interview disclosed new information about a covert operation that had been planned for years that targeted Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Syria using exploding pagers and walkie talkies three months ago.

What happened in September?

Hundreds of pager devices belonging to Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon September 17. The blasts, which occurred simultaneously in several Hezbollah strongholds, were described as an "Israeli breach" of the militant group's communications. A day later, more electronic devices such as walkie-talkies detonated during a funeral in Lebanon in what appeared to be a second wave of sophisticated, deadly attacks that targeted Hezbollah fighters.

What did the agents say on their pager and walkie talkie operations?

While speaking anonymously with masks and altered voices to protect their identities, they shared said in a segment on CBS' ‘60 Minutes’ that the operation started 10 years ago using walkie-talkies laden with hidden explosives, which Hezbollah unknowingly purchased from Israel, its enemy. The walkie-talkies were not detonated until September, a day after booby-trapped pagers were set off.

One agent who went by the name “Michael” said, “We created a pretend world.”

Speaking of the pagers, another agent revealed that the second phase of the plan, involving booby-trapped pagers, began in 2022 after Israel's Mossad discovered that Hezbollah had been purchasing pagers from a Taiwan-based company.

Explaining further, he said that the pagers had to be made slightly larger to fit the explosives inside. They were also tested on dummies several times to determine the right amount of explosive that would injure only the Hezbollah fighter, without harming those nearby. Moreover, Mossad also experimented with different ringtones to find one that sounded urgent enough to prompt the user to check the pager.

The second agent by the name ‘Gabriel’ also described how shell companies, including one based in Hungary, were used to deceive the Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, into unknowingly partnering with Mossad. Hezbollah was completely unaware they were dealing with Israel.

Gabriel compared the deception to the 1998 psychological film The Truman Show, in which a man unknowingly lives in a fabricated world, with his family and friends acting as paid participants to maintain the illusion. “We make like Truman Show,' everything is controlled by us behind the scene. In their experience, everything is normal. Everything was 100% kosher including businessman, marketing, engineers, showroom, everything,” agent named Gabriel said.

Hezbollah militants had 5,000 pagers by September

By September, Hezbollah militants had 5,000 pagers in their pockets. Israel initiated the attack on September 17, when the pagers began beeping across Lebanon. The devices exploded even if the user didn't press the buttons to read the encrypted message.

The following day, Mossad activated the walkie-talkies, some of which detonated during funerals, contributing to the deaths of around 30 people involved in the pager explosions.

Goal was more about sending a message than actually killing

“If he just dead, so he's dead. But if he's wounded, you have to take him to the hospital, take care of him. You need to invest money and efforts. And those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon, of don't mess with us.' They are walking proof of our superiority all around the Middle East,” Gabriel told CBS as quoted by AP.

Adding to it, Micheal said that after the pager explosion, people in Lebanon were afraid to turn on their air conditioners out of fear that they would explode, too, “There is real fear."

Agents warns on next move

In response to a question about their strategy, the agent explained that their goal was to make Hezbollah feel vulnerable. Since the pagers had already been used, they couldn't be deployed again, and warned, ‘We've already moved on to the next thing. And they'll have to keep on trying to guess what the next thing is'

(With all inputs from Associated Press)