The bold vision that Israel planned for over a decade, involving walkie-talkies and booby-trapped pagers, came to an end three months ago with a deadly attack that left at least 30 people dead in Lebanon and Syria.
Two recently retired senior Jewish intelligence officers described the Mossad’s strategy for Hezbollah extremists in Lebanon and Syria.
The officials, who spoke privately to CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday, shed light on the agency’s complex information and its internal ramifications.
” We created a pretend world”, said one of the agents, identified only as” Michael”. The brokers described how the procedure, which involved walkie-talkies embedded with bombs, started ten years ago when they spoke through masks and with improved voices to suppress their identities.
Hezbollah received these items secretly, and they remained unaware of their destructive effects until September 2024 when they detonated.
A generation of dishonesty
The plan’s inspiration may be traced to 2013, when Mossad discovered a flaw in the Hezbollah purchasing process. Using tank firms, including one based in Hungary, Israeli operatives managed to infiltrate the supply chain.
By 2022, Hezbollah had purchased pagers from a Japanese company, called Gold Apollo, which helped the operation grow. These pagers were modified to building explosives, and only their immediate operators may be harmed by them.
” We tested everything”, said the second agent, known as” Gabriel”. From the explosives to the sound that may cause a person to take the pager out of their pocket,” From the amount of bombs to the ringtone.”
Gabriel compared the fraud to the 1998 drama The Truman Show, which showed how Hezbollah operated within a Mossad-created fake reality. They “had no idea” that they were purchasing from us, he claimed. ” Everyone, from advertising to executive, was controlled by us”.
By September 2024, Hezbollah insurgents were accidentally carrying 5, 000 booby-trapped pagers. These devices started beeping together throughout Lebanon on September 17. The bombs, triggered electronically, killed nearly 30 extremists and left scores wounded. The following morning, the walkie-talkies were detonated, some during burial for those killed in the switchboard problems.
” If he’s really dying, so he’s dead”, Gabriel explained. ” But if he’s wounded, you have to take him to the doctor, care for him. Those who lack hands and eyes live as evidence of our dominance. They’re walking in Lebanon, showing’ don’t disaster with us.'”
Going beyond quick deaths, injury
The emotional toll extended beyond the deaths. ” Citizens in Lebanon were afraid to turn on their air conditioners, fearing they might explode”, Michael said. ” We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are”.
For Mossad, the success of the operation was driven more by the magnitude of the Hezbollah deaths than by the overall concept it delivered. ” We didn’t use the pagers again”, Michael admitted. ” But we’ve moved on to the next point. And Hezbollah will always be forced to predict the outcome.
Following Hamas ‘ deadly assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, which plunged the place into battle, the attack took place amid the landscape of escalating crime. Hezbollah’s retribution was swift, with attacks targeting Israel about instantly. In the weeks after the secret function, Israel’s air army launched a series of assaults across Lebanon, killing thousands. Hezbollah’s president, Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated when Israeli troops bombed his basement.
By November, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah ended with a stalemate. The broader Israel-Hamas issue, however, continued to specific a devastating burden, with Arab health officials reporting over 45, 000 deaths in Gaza.
