At least 37 dead and three thousand two hundred injured: Lebanon is still in shock on September 19, after the multiple explosions, on Tuesday and Wednesday, of radio communication devices used by Hezbollah, and which were allegedly booby-trapped in advance by Israel. While this large-scale attack, worthy of a spy film, still raises many questions about its preparation, sources close to the intelligence services told the New York Times that the equipment sold to Hezbollah actually came from an Israeli front company.
As the American daily reminds us, Israel has not, for the moment, issued an official statement regarding its responsibility in these events. But for a dozen current and former defense and intelligence officials informed of the attack (their nationalities are not specified), there is no doubt about the involvement of the Israelis in this operation, described as “long to set up and complex.”
Indeed, according to a preliminary investigation by Lebanese authorities, it appeared that the devices were “pre-programmed and contained explosive materials placed next to the battery,” a Lebanese security official told AFP. For Charles Lister, an expert at the Middle East Institute, like many analysts, it seemed increasingly clear, in light of the information available, that “the Mossad (the Israeli foreign intelligence service) had infiltrated the supply chain” of Hezbollah. The question remained how they had done it.
A real manufacturer and “ordinary” customers
According to the American media, the Hungary-based company that allegedly sold booby-trapped pagers to the Shiite party, BAC Consulting, is “an Israeli front company” producing devices for a Taiwan-based brand: Gold Apollo. On Tuesday, a Lebanese security source interviewed by Reuters had also indicated that the booby-trapped devices came from this company – information quickly denied by the brand. “Gold Apollo exported 260,000 pagers between 2022 and August 2024, mainly to European and American markets. […] “There is no trace of direct export to Lebanon,” the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs explained, quoted by The Orient-The Day.
“Israel had a plan in place to create a shell company posing as an international producer of pagers,” the New York Times. The company in question also supplied “normal pagers to ordinary customers,” according to three intelligence officers quoted. “At least two other front companies were created to mask the real identity of the people responsible for manufacturing the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers.” Their target: Hezbollah, for whom the radio communication devices were manufactured separately, so that they could incorporate batteries impregnated with Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN), a particularly powerful explosive.
Biggest blow to the organization
Israel reportedly anticipated that given its own progress in hacking phones and connected devices, the Lebanese party’s leaders would turn to more rudimentary means of communication. “For years, leaders insisted that Hezbollah invest instead in pagers that, despite their limited capabilities, could receive data without revealing the user’s location or other compromising information.” After the biggest blow ever to the party, its leading figure, Hassan Nasrallah, is scheduled to speak this Thursday at 5 p.m.
The events come after Israel announced the extension of its war aims against the Palestinian Hamas – supported by Hezbollah – to the northern border with Lebanon, to allow the return of displaced people in the north of the country. The UN Security Council will meet urgently on Friday to discuss the series of explosions in Lebanon. Turkey, for its part, accused “Israel of extending the war to Lebanon”, while Berlin, the UN and Washington warned against an “escalation”.