Hezbollah pager plot secret was out, sparking early call

The attack using exploding pagers, which specifically targeted some of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders, was months in the making but was triggered early because the plot had been uncovered.

Ambulances and bystanders bring the wounded to the American University of Beirut Medical Centre. Picture: AFP

The attack using exploding pagers, which specifically targeted some of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders, was months in the making but was triggered early because the plot had been uncovered.

Security analysts say the technical aspect of the plot “was not complicated’’, but the execution of the plan in getting the tampered products into the pockets of Hezbollah militants was particularly sophisticated.

Hezbollah placed an order for a batch of 5000 pagers earlier this year after fears were stoked that their mobile phones could be traced by Israel.

Pagers had been used by some of the Hezbollah command before this – they were seen as the most secure way to organise a secret meeting – but the decision to distribute them more widely to battalion leaders was made by an increasingly nervous Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Six months ago Nasrallah had told his 90,000 Hezbollah fighters to get rid of smartphones because the Israelis had the means to track and infiltrate the devices.

“Shut it off, bury it, put it in an iron chest and lock it up,“ he said. “Do it for the sake of security and to protect the blood and dignity of people.”

And so for months Hezbollah leaders, from the local battalion level right up to Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, were carrying around a small bomb. Mr Amani lost an eye in the blast, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said.

Many of the destroyed pagers displayed the model number AR-924 with Gold Apollo branding – a Taiwan-based company.

Gold Apollo president Hsu Ching-Kuang told reporters that his company had licensed the ­pagers in Europe to a manufacturing company, Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT.

Mr Hsu said his company only provided brand trademark ­authorisation and had no involvement in the design or manufacturing. “We may not be a large company but we are a responsible one,” he said. “This is very embarrassing.”

A crowd surrounds a Lebanese man on a busy street after he was injured by one of the remote-controlled exploding pagers.

Israeli intelligence and military strategy expert Eyal Pinko told the Jerusalem Press Club “what is sophisticated is the intelligence operation, not the technology”.

He said one to two grams of a stable explosive would be put inside the pager alongside a small operational card that reads outside commands. Once a preset code had been sent to the devices, it would over stimulate the very small current from the battery to ignite the charge.

“It is very simple to send a signal,’’ Dr Pinko said, adding that anyone could have sent the preset code from anywhere in the world, knowing that it would be a particularly targeted operation because those with the tampered devices were senior Hezbollah operatives.

Middle East news group Al-Monitor reported that high-level regional intelligence sources said two members of Hezbollah had suspicions about the pagers, prompting intense debate within Israeli security.

The pagers were meant as a prelude to any full-scale war but the secrecy of the plot was unravelling this week, which prompted an earlier execution of the plan.

Al-Monitor said its sources within Israeli intelligence confirmed they had infiltrated the ­devices.

“They could be controlled from Tel Aviv,” one source said.

Another outlet, Axios, reported that an unnamed US official said it was a “use it or lose it moment”.

Axios said the Israel Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, updated the United States a few minutes prior to the 3.30pm attack Lebanon time that an assault was about to take place.