Modern Time ‘Trojan Horse’: Israel’s Explosive Pagers Operation
- 19.09.2024, 11:52
The NYT revealed the details.
Israel created a front company selling pagers and radios to military leadership and members of the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Thus, many terrorists managed to almost simultaneously detonate the devices they used for communication.
As a result, dozens of militants were killed and about 3,000 people were injured over two days of explosions. The New York Times reported on the Israeli operation, calling the trick a "Trojan horse" in a new way.
The article says that the Hungarian company B.A.C. Consulting had a contract to produce pagers on behalf of the Taiwanese Gold Apollo. Israel also created two other front companies.
Tel Aviv wanted to hide the real names of the people who created the gadgets and were Mossad officers.
It is known that Hungarian company 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.
The pagers began shipping to Lebanon in the summer of 2022 in small numbers, but production was quickly ramped up after Hezbollah leader Said Nasrallah denounced cellphones.
He received reports from allies that Israel had acquired new means to hack into phones, activating microphones and cameras remotely to spy on their owners. According to three intelligence officials, Israel had invested millions in developing the technology, and word spread among Hezbollah and its allies that no cellphone communication — even encrypted messaging apps — was safe anymore.
“Thousands of pagers arrived in the country and were distributed among Hezbollah officers and their allies. To Hezbollah, they were a defensive measure, but in Israel, intelligence officers referred to the pagers as “buttons” that could be pushed when the time seemed ripe. That moment, it appears, came this week,” the publication writes.
To set off the explosions, 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. Thus, on September 17, pagers and radios began to explode mysteriously in Lebanon. Some of those killed and wounded as a result were members of the terrorist group, while others were not. The next day, such devices continued to explode. It is noted that four children were among the victims.
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.
“The booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies were the latest salvo in the decades-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is based across the border in Lebanon. The tensions escalated after the war began in the Gaza Strip,” NYT summarizes.