Pager bombs shock Hezbollah, report claims Israel planned attack in 2022

Lebanon-based Hezbollah, a militant group, was targeted in simultaneous explosions from 5,000 pager devices and walkie-talkies over the past two days. The group has blamed Israel for the attacks

The series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions that rocked Lebanon and parts of Syria in the past two days may have left Hezbollah humiliated, but the attack was allegedly being planned by Israel since 2022, according to a report published by the New York Times on Thursday.

The report claimed that 12 anonymous current and former defence and intelligence officials associated with the development stated that “Israel was behind the complex operation.” While Israel has not officially reacted to the incident, Hezbollah has accused the country of orchestrating the attack and has vowed retaliation.

What is Hezbollah and why was it targeted?

Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been at odds with Israel for decades, has seen heightened tensions with the country following the Gaza conflict that was triggered last October. The subsequent escalation between the two sides took a new turn on Tuesday when explosives planted in 5,000 pagers used by Hezbollah went off simultaneously across Lebanon. The incident left at least nine people dead and around 3,000 injured. A day later, another round of explosions in walkie-talkies and some solar systems were reported in the region, killing at least 14 people.

Why was Hezbollah using outdated pagers for communication?

Hezbollah uses pager devices to evade detection of its movements, a strategy adopted after Israel began taking down senior Hezbollah leaders through targeted assassinations. Pagers are low-tech communication devices that work on radio signals rather than the internet. In an effort to avoid Israeli surveillance, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah decided to expand the use of pagers for communication, instructing his group that Israel was using cellphone networks to pinpoint the locations of his operatives.

What is Israel’s connection with pager explosions in Lebanon?

In response, Israeli intelligence officials reportedly initiated a plan to create a shell company that would pose as an international pager manufacturer, the report claimed. A Hungary-based company, B.A.C. Consulting, was established for this purpose. B.A.C. Consulting was contracted to produce the pagers on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo, which was initially believed to have manufactured the devices.

According to the NYT report, the company was an Israeli front. Three intelligence officers stated that two more shell companies were established to disguise the operation, under which these pagers were being produced by Israeli intelligence officers.

On Wednesday, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant told his troops that they were at the start of a “new phase of war,” praising the work of Israel’s army and security agencies without directly mentioning the explosions in Lebanon. He said the “results were very impressive.”

To avoid suspicion, B.A.C. Consulting also produced regular pagers, but for their main client, Hezbollah, the device batteries were laced with explosives, three officials said.

The pagers began shipping to Lebanon in the summer of 2022, after Hezbollah decided to ban cellphones completely. Production rapidly increased, and the pagers were turned into devices that could be remotely detonated when the time was right, the report stated.