Israeli Shell Companies Made Explosives-Laced Pagers Used By Hezbollah Fighters Months Before Blasts: Report

A report stated that Israel had created shell companies to make pagers for Hezbollah and rigged the communication devices with explosives.

Seeking to evade Israeli surveillance and avoid attacks utilising sophisticated technologies, Hezbollah did inadvertently land into trouble after a series of synchronised pager blasts rocked Lebanon and parts of Syria, leaving thousands of its fighters injured and nine others killed. The Iran-backed group was unaware all along that the pagers it had been carrying and using everyday were already rigged by its arch-rival, who had been waiting for the right time.

The attack, as per a report by The New York Times, was planned by Israel, which used shell companies to manufacture those devices, lacing them with a few grams of explosives, before delivering them to Hezbollah.

Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the pager blasts in Lebanon, the report states that the entire operation was intricately designed by its intelligence agency and had been set in motion months before its execution.

Here’s how Israel reportedly planned the pagers and walkie-talkie detonations in Lebanon.

Iran-backed groups, including Hezbollah, have faced Israeli attacks using technologies in the past. Previously, Israel hacked into Iran's nuclear development and even assassinated Iran’s top nuclear scientist using AI-assisted robot controlled via sateliite.

As these technology-based attacks increased, with Israel picking off Hezbollah commandos with targeted assassinations, its chief Hassan Nasrallah said that the “agent” of Israel was none other than the widely used phones. His allies alerted him of Israel’s plans of acquiring new means of hacking into phones, activating cameras and microphones, in a bid to spy on Hezbollah fighters.  

Israel Took Advatage Of Hezbollah's Defence Measure

Fearing an attack, Nasrallah decided that the Iran-backed group would go low on technology usage if Israel was going high-tech in its attacks.

He then asked the group to "bury" the phones and pushed for investing in pagers instead. These wireless communication devices could receive data without revealing the user’s location or any other sensitive information that could put them in a vulnerable spot before Israel, the report said.

However, Israel sensed an opportunity in this technology pull-back as well. The country is said to have already 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.

This is where the Hungary-based company B.A.C. Consulting comes in. On the surface, it looked like a company that was producing devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo, from which Hezbollah had bought the pagers that detonated in Lebanon. 

However, in a shocking revelation, the New York Times reported that the company was actually part of an Israeli front. It also noted that two other shell companies besides B.A.C. were established to hide the identities of the those making the pagers, who were reportedly Israeli intelligence officers.

Although the company took orders from ordinary clients, its key focus always remained on the pagers that it was making for Hezbollah, far from ordinary communication devices. B.A.C produced these pagers separately and they consisted of batteries rigged with an explosive ‘PETN’, the report said citing three intelligence officers.

Pager Shipments Began Arriving In Lebanon In 2022

In the summer of 2022, the pagers began shipping to Lebanon in small batches. 

Once Nasrallah asked Hezbollah to denounce and ban cell phones, the company ramped up the production of pagers. The Hezbollah chief had ordered to strictly avoid any sort of communication over cell phones and the discussion of Hezbollah movements was a big no-no.  

As words spread among Hezbollah and its allies that no communication done through cellphones was safe anymore, Israel ramped up its pagers’ production further and invested millions in its technolgical development.

Gradually, the arrival of pager shipments began to increase significantly, with thousands being distributed among Hezbollah officers and the group’s allies. While Hezbollah saw it as a means to protect themselves from Israel, the latter considered the pagers as “buttons” that could be pressed once the time was right.

On Tuesday, the order was given to activate the pagers, leaving Lebanon in chaos with the explosions. The three intelligence officials told the NYT, that pagers were activated after Israel sent a message to them in Arabic, which looked like it had come from Hezbollah’s senior leadership. But seconds later the thousands of beeps turned into a series of detonations across the country.