Israel’s Mossad Shares Details About Deadly Devices Operation Against Hezbollah (Worthy News In-Depth)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NEW YORK/TEL AVIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Two ex-senior agents of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service have, for the first time, revealed details about a deadly operation that targeted thousands of “Hezbollah terrorists” in Lebanon and Syria using exploding pagers and walkie-talkies.
Speaking with altered voices and wearing masks to hide their identity, the two retired agents told U.S broadcaster CBS’s news magazine “60 Minutes” that “Operation Pager” took years to prepare.
The two men recalled how, on September 17, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon suddenly began to explode, injuring those holding them and killing over two dozen.
A day later, hundreds of walkie-talkies also blew up, injuring or killing scores more.
The attacks, which injured up to 4,000 people and killed some 42 others, including key Hezbollah officials, were quickly attributed to Israel.
They came as Israel began to step up a counteroffensive against Hezbollah after the Iran-backed group struck the Jewish nation with missiles almost immediately following allied Palestinian group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.
Some 1,200 people in Israel, primarily civilians, were killed in the Hamas onslaught, and 251 were taken hostage, sparking the war in Gaza.
TEN YEARS PLANNING
One agent said the operation started 10 years ago using walkie-talkies laden with hidden explosives, which Hezbollah didn’t realize it was buying from Israel, which it has sworn to destroy.
“We created a pretend world,” said the retired officer, who used the name “Michael.”
Mossad’s motto is based on the Bible verse Proverbs 24:6: “For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.”
CBS said the Bible verse reminded the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of “smoke and mirrors” –which is “what this operation was all about, starting with those walkie-talkies.”
Yet, as walkie-talkies are only worn in battle, Mossad began developing a new device that Hezbollah fighters would have in their pockets all the time: a pager.
It started in 2022 after Mossad learned Hezbollah bought pagers from a Taiwan-based company, according to the retired Mossad agents.
The pagers had to be slightly larger to accommodate the hidden explosives. They were tested on dummies multiple times to find the right amount of explosive that would hurt only the Hezbollah fighter and not anyone else nearby, the officers stressed.
TRYING NUMEROUS RINGTONES
Mossad also tried numerous ringtones to find one that sounded urgent enough to make someone pull the pager out of their pocket.
The second agent, who went by the name “Gabriel,” said it took two weeks to convince Hezbollah to switch to the heftier pager partly due to fake advertisements on the video-sharing site YouTube. The ads promoted the devices as “dustproof, waterproof, providing a long battery life,” and more.
He described the use of “shell companies,” including one based in Hungary, a close ally of Israel, to dupe the Taiwanese firm, Gold Apollo, into unknowingly partnering with Mossad.
However, the government of Hungarianrightwing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has vehemently denied that the exploding pagers were produced in Hungary. “Authorities have confirmed that the [Budapest-based] company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary,” government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács said at the time. “It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary.”
Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of BAC Consulting in Budapest said they did not make the pagers used in the attacks and added that she was “just the intermediate.”
Her mother, Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono, said last year, her daughter received unspecified threats and “is currently in a safe place protected by the Hungarian secret services.”
The “Hungarian secret services advised her not to talk to media,” she added.
Mossad began the operation based on walkie-talkies, believing that Hezbollah operatives would carry them in their vests – close to their chest and heart.
PURCHASING 16,000 WALKIE-TALKIES
Former agent “Michael,” said that Hezbollah had purchased 16,000 exploding walkie-talkies manufactured by Mossad “at a good price.”
“We created a pretend world. We are a global production company. We write the screenplay, we’re the directors, we’re the producers, we’re the main actors, and the world is our stage.”
Yet questions have been raised about the timing of the operation, which Worthy News monitored. Several top Israeli sources said that if the walkie-talkie program had been used in October 2023, it could actually have killed around 15,000 or 16,000 “terrorists,” dwarfing even the results that came after a year of fighting.
They suggested that Hezbollah could have been defeated in October last year, “avoiding the need for 14 months of war” with Hezbollah, along with the necessary evacuation of 80,000 northern Israeli residents for months on end.
Other senior officials said “the cards were not lined up in October 2023” for this operation and that the walkie-talkie sabotage would not have had maximal results at the time – making “the beepers,” or pagers, a better bet in September 2024, The Jerusalem Post newspaper wrote.
Although top Mossad echelons favored the program, Gabriel told 60 Minutes he initially received skepticism from his superiors: “Our director [David Barnea] told us, ‘There is no chance anyone will buy such a big device.’ It took two weeks to convince him.” Ultimately, the pagers were sold to Hezbollah through intermediaries.
At 3:30 p.m. local time on September 17, 2024, Mossad remotely activated the explosive pagers across Lebanon. Those carrying the devices received an encrypted message instructing them to press two buttons, triggering the explosion. “If they didn’t push the buttons, it would still explode,” Gabriel explained.
OVERWHELMING HEZBOLLAH FIGHTERS
The coordinated blasts caused mayhem, with hospitals overwhelmed by thousands of injured fighters. “People were afraid to turn on their air conditioners the next day because they thought they might explode,” said Michael, stressing the psychological toll.
One day later, Mossad activated the walkie-talkies that had been dormant for over a decade; some went off during funerals for those killed by the pagers. The two operations injured thousands, killed dozens, and left the organization demoralized and in disarray.
The Mossad agents admitted to “60 Minutes” that a few children were mistakenly killed out of the thousands of explosives. “The aim wasn’t to kill,” Gabriel said. “It was to leave Hezbollah with thousands of wounded, proof of our superiority.”
However, Israeli commentators questioned those statements, given that the walkie-talkies could kill, but some sources did agree with Gabriel’s characterization
“This operation marked a turning point in the war,” commented The Jerusalem Post.
In a speech he delivered several days later, then-Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah appeared subdued. “His soldiers saw a broken leader,” Gabriel stressed. Ten days later, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped around 85 bombs on Nasrallah’s bunker, killing him.
REGIONAL FALLOUT CLEARER
“The fallout of this operation extended far beyond Lebanon. It weakened Iran’s influence in the region by crippling Hezbollah, its most potent proxy, and destabilized Syria, contributing to the collapse of the [Bashar Al-]Assad regime,” The Jerusalem Post commented.
“Hezbollah is looking around and realizing they are isolated,” Michael said, noting that the operation had ramifications for Gaza as well.
While the operation bolstered Israel’s strategic position, it raised ethical concerns.
“What about Israel’s moral reputation?” wondered CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl.
Gabriel responded, “There is a prioritization. First, you defend your people, then you worry about reputation.”
The operation underscored Mossad’s ability to wage psychological warfare. “We can’t use pagers again,” Gabriel acknowledged, “but they’ll have to keep guessing what’s next.”
(With additional reporting by the Worthy News Europe Bureau in Budapest, Hungary.)
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