Former Mossad agents have described how Israeli spies spent 10 years on an operation to hide bombs in walkie-talkies and pagers before detonating them earlier this year.
The duo, going by the names Michael and Gabriel, said the attacks in Lebanon had sent a message to Israel’s enemies not to “mess with us”.
They revealed the details in an interview with CBS News, which the two men gave while dressed in ski masks and sunglasses to hide their identities.
The pair said Israel sold Hezbollah some 16,000 of the exploding devices over the years for a “good price”.
Gabriel said because walkie-talkies are mainly worn in battle, his team began developing exploding pagers as well.
The remnants of one of the exploding devices in Lebanon – Balkis Press/ABACA/Shutterstock
Around 3,000 people were wounded and 30 people died in the attacks
Mossad began conducting tests with their newly developed devices to figure out the exact amount of explosives needed to limit the damage to the person holding the pager, the pair claimed.
Because Hezbollah’s pager was small and slick, the team had to enlarge theirs to fit the explosives.
Gabriel said: “I remember the day that I came to our director and put it on the table. He was furious, he was telling us: ‘There is no chance that anyone will buy such a big device. It’s not comfortable in their pocket. It’s heavy’.”
Two weeks later Gabriel convinced the spy chief to approve the mission, he claimed. Mossad then used fake advertisements on YouTube to launch the new pager which was robust, dustproof, waterproof and had a long battery life.
He said: “We make advertising movies and brochures, and we put it on the internet. And it became the best product in the beeper area in the world.”
After finding that Hezbollah was buying their pagers from a company in Taiwan called Gold Apollo, Mossad lured them into a working arrangement by setting up shell companies.
“When they are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad,” Gabriel said. He also compared the scheme to the film The Truman Show because “everything is controlled by us behind the scene[s]”.
He added: “In their experience, everything is normal. Everything was 100 per cent kosher including businessman, marketing, engineers, showroom, everything.”
Thousands of people were injured in the blasts over two days in September
Lesley Stahl interviewed the two former Mossad agents for US broadcaster CBS News – 60 Minutes / CBS
The retired Mossad agent insisted that the agency tested everything “triple, double, multiple times in order to make sure there is minimum damage”.
He claimed: “If we push the button the only one that will get injured is the terrorist himself. Even if his wife or his daughter will be just next to him, he’s the only one that’s going to be harmed.”
On Sept 17, nearly a year after Hezbollah started a conflict by firing rockets, missiles and drones at Israel in solidarity with Hamas, Mossad’s pagers began exploding across Lebanon.
The explosions caused instant chaos in the country, with ambulances rushing to scenes where Hezbollah members had their limbs blown off.
The following day a second round of explosions rocked Lebanon as Mossad detonated the walkie-talkies.
Around 3,000 people were wounded in the attacks, most of whom were believed to be members of Hezbollah, while 30 people died, including two children.
The aim, Gabriel claimed, was not to kill Hezbollah members but rather to wound them.
He said: “If he’s wounded, you have to take him to the hospital, take care of him. You need to invest money and effort. And those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon, of ‘don’t mess with us’.
“They are walking proof of our superiority all around the Middle East.”
The retired agent also claimed that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was “broken” after the attacks.
“I don’t know if you know that Nasrallah … just next to him in the bunker, several people had beepers receiving the message. And in his own eyes, he saw them collapsing,” he said.
