Israeli PM Netanyahu Admits Israel Carried Out Lebanon Pager Attacks On Hezbollah

During the unprecedented pager explosions, around 40 people were killed after the hand-held devices used by Hezbollah operatives detonated two days in a row across Lebanon in September.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accepted to have "okayed" the pager attacks in Lebanon, two months after the deadly attacks killed 40 people and wounded 3,000 people in September.

"Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon," his spokesperson Omer Dostri told news agency AFP.

During the unprecedented pager explosions, around 40 people were killed after the hand-held devices used by Hezbollah operatives detonated two days in a row across Lebanon in September.

The explosions had rocked Lebanon and followed Israel's ongoing military operation against Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed group had been blaming its arch-foe for the blasts that dealt a major blow to the militant group and vowed revenge.

“The pager operation and the elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah were carried out despite the opposition of senior officials in the defense establishment and those responsible for them in the political echelon,” Netanyahu said, according to the Times of Israel.

Israel had not publicly taken responsibility for the attack targeting Hezbollah that saw pagers and walkie-talkies explode in two waves on September 17 and 18.

Hezbollah have been carrying out low intensity strikes on Israel in support of Hamas after October 7 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war. 

Israeli Shell Companies Made Explosives-Laced Pagers

Days after the pager attacks rocked Lebanon, a report in The New York Times claimed that the attack was planned by Israel using shell companies to manufacture the devices, lacing them with a few grams of explosives, before delivering them to Hezbollah.

The investigative report stated that the entire operation was intricately planned by Israeli intelligence agency and had been set in motion months before its execution.

When former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah decided to go low on technology, Israel sensed an opportunity in this technology pull-back as well.

Israel then initiated a plan to establish a shell company even before Nasrallah decided to expand the pager usage. It was aware that the Hezbollah chief had been calling for increased investment in pagers for the longest time.

The report further said that the Hungary-based company B.A.C. Consulting portrayed itself as a firm producing devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo, from which Hezbollah had bought the pagers that detonated in Lebanon. However, in reality, the company was actually part of an Israeli front and those making the pagers were reportedly Israeli intelligence officers.