Israel has scored a major intelligence success by apparently infiltrating a supply chain to cause the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of Hezbollah pagers in a blow for the Lebanese terror group and its Iranian backers, analysts say.
At least nine people were killed and some 2,750 wounded, including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when the pagers exploded in Hezbollah strongholds across the country in an unprecedented simultaneous attack.
With Hezbollah appearing to prefer the use of pagers for internal communications over smartphones for security reasons, analysts said it appeared Israel had corrupted the devices before delivery, allowing them to explode at a specific time.
A source close to Hezbollah, asking not to be identified, told AFP that “the pagers that exploded concern a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah of 1,000 devices,” which appear to have been “sabotaged at [the] source.”
Sky News Arabia quoted sources saying that the Mossad spy agency got hold of Hezbollah’s communication devices before they were handed over to the terror group.
The Israeli spy agency placed a quantity of PETN, a highly explosive material, on the batteries of the devices, and detonated them by raising the temperature of the batteries from afar, the source said.
A Lebanese security source quoted by Al Jazeera said an explosive weighing less than 20 grams had been placed in each pager.
The pagers that exploded had been newly acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader ordered members to stop using cellphones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the pagers were a new brand the group had not used before.
“Mossad infiltrated the supply chain,” said Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute, referring to Israel’s intelligence agency.
“A small plastic explosive was almost certainly concealed alongside the battery, for remote detonation via a call or page,” he said.
Officials with the group initially suspected overheated lithium-ion batteries may have caused the pagers to explode, but images of the destroyed devices seen Tuesday showed signs of detonation, said Alex Plitsas, a weapons expert at the Atlantic Council.
“A lithium-ion battery fire is one thing, but I’ve never seen one explode like that. It looks like a small explosive charge,” Plitsas said.
Paul Christensen, an expert in lithium-ion battery safety at Newcastle University said the level of damage caused by the pager explosions seemed inconsistent with known cases of such batteries failing in the past.
“What we’re talking about is a relatively small battery bursting into flames. We’re not talking of a fatal explosion here. I’d need to know more about the energy density of the batteries, but my intuition is telling me that it’s highly unlikely,” he said.
SMEX, a Lebanese digital rights organization, told Reuters that Israel could have exploited a weakness in the device to cause it to explode. It said the pagers could also have been intercepted before reaching Hezbollah and either tampered with electronically or implanted with an explosive device.
Yehoshua Kalisky, a scientist and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank, noted the possibility of an electronic pulse “that was sent from afar and burnt the devices and caused their explosion.”
“It is not some random action; it was deliberate and known,” he said.
‘Their big comeback’
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the explosions. Israel, which traditionally does not comment on security operations outside the country, has yet to confirm or deny its involvement.
It remains unclear whether the action could tip the region into a regional war between Israel and Hezbollah that the West has been battling to avoid ever since Hamas’s October 7 massacre on Israel sparked the war in Gaza.
But the images captured on camera of pagers exploding are a major security blow for Hezbollah and an illustration of Israel’s reach even into the terror group’s members’ pockets.
The action comes after senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike on July 30 that indicated Israel had precise information about his whereabouts.
Just a day later, the political leader of Hamas, Ismael Haniyeh, was killed in a residence in Tehran, reportedly using an explosive device that had been placed by Israeli operatives weeks before. Israel has not confirmed or denied its involvement in the assassination.
French defense expert Pierre Servent said the latest action against Hezbollah would help Israeli intelligence services restore their reputation, which was badly dented by the October 7 massacre when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged across southern communities on October 7, murdering some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
“The series of operations conducted over the past few months marks their big comeback, with a desire for deterrence and a message: ‘We messed up but we’re not dead,'” he told AFP.
‘Classic sabotage’
Former CIA analyst Mike Dimino of the US-based Defense Priorities think tank said that judging by images of the injuries a “very small explosive” implanted inside the devices was the most likely cause, rather than an overheating battery.
“This was a classic sabotage operation,” he said on X, adding such an operation takes “months if not years” to orchestrate.
Dubai-based analyst Riad Kahwaji said that Israel had taken advantage of Hezbollah’s move away from smartphones to pagers.
Israel intelligence had conducted a “most professional operation,” he said.
“Without a doubt, one of the factories it (Israel) owns manufactured and shipped these explosive devices that exploded today,” he said.
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