Jerusalem was reportedly concerned that the terror group had picked up on the plan, intended as the opening move of a full-scale war
Jerusalem’s pager attack against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon was carried out ahead of schedule due to concerns the Iranian proxy might have discovered the plan, according to reports in Axios and Al-Monitor.
The Arab-American news site Al-Monitor first reported that Israel had intended to wait until just before a full-scale war to launch the attack, but made a last-minute decision to detonate the pagers after at least two Hezbollah members suspected something was wrong with the devices.
Three U.S. officials confirmed to Axios that the secret operation went ahead early because of fears that it was about to be discovered by the terrorist group.
“It was a use it or lose it moment,” said one U.S. official.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attack and vowed revenge. Lebanon’s prime minister also accused Israel of being behind the incident. For its part, Jerusalem has not taken responsibility.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who was reportedly not wounded in the attack, will give a speech at 5 p.m. on Thursday, according to the terror group.
Lufthansa and Air France on Tuesday announced that flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Beirut had been suspended until Thursday amid the heightened tensions.
At least nine Hezbollah terrorists were killed and some 3,000 wounded in Lebanon when their pagers detonated on Tuesday, along with at least 14 other terrorists in neighbouring Syria according to unconfirmed reports. Senior Hezbollah officials were said to have been wounded in the blasts.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani lost an eye and suffered serious injury to the other when the pager he was carrying exploded. According to Iranian media reports, two of Amani’s bodyguards were also wounded when their own pagers exploded.
A former Israeli official familiar with the operation told Axios reporter Barak Ravid that Jerusalem planned to use the booby-trapped pagers in the hands of Hezbollah operatives and leaders “as a surprise opening blow in an all-out war to try to cripple Hezbollah.”
However, “In recent days, Israeli leaders became concerned that Hezbollah might discover the pagers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his top ministers and the heads of the Israel Defense Forces and the intelligence agencies decided to use the system now rather than take the risk of it being detected by Hezbollah, a U.S. official said,” according to the report.
The New York Times, citing American and other officials briefed on the operation, reported that Israel carried out the operation “by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon.”
Furthermore, it was reported by the Times that the pagers were ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan and tampered with before reaching Lebanon. However, the company said in a statement following the Times report that the models being carried by Hezbollah members were made and sold by a franchisee in Hungary, naming the partner as Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT.
“According to our cooperation agreement, we authorized BAC to use our trademark to manufacture and sell in specific areas, but the development and production are solely their responsibility,” the official statement said. The company said that the model sold by BAC and that exploded was the AR-924.
Taiwan’s Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday morning that the communication devices that exploded were “processed” after being exported and that there was no record of exports from Taiwan to Lebanon that match the shipment. Taiwanese police also reportedly raided the Gold Apollo offices in New Taipei City.
A small amount of explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each device, according to the Times report. A switch was embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. Lebanon time, a message was received that looked as if it was coming from Hezbollah leadership. The devices that were turned on and receiving messages beeped for several seconds before exploding, according to the report.
A member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told the Times that the pagers beeped for around 10 seconds before detonating, prompting some to put the pagers close to their faces to check for a message.
According to the Times, earlier this year Nasrallah restricted the use of cell phones, which he saw as vulnerable to Israeli surveillance. Over 3,000 of the pagers were thus ordered and distributed to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and also the terror group’s allies in Syria and Iran.
Tuesday’s attack came hours after Israel’s Security Cabinet added returning Israelis displaced from their homes in the north to the country’s war goals and a visit to Israel by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who is seeking a diplomatic resolution to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
According to Israeli government figures, over 60,000 people have been evacuated from their residences near the Lebanese border since last October, when the Iranian-backed terror army began near-daily rocket, missile and drone attacks in support of Hamas in the wake of the Gaza-based terror group’s invasion of the northwestern Negev the day prior.
The Hezbollah attacks have so far killed more than 40 people in Israel, and have caused widespread damage.
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