Hundreds of pagers exploded simultaneously across Lebanon last Tuesday, resulting in multiple fatalities and thousands injured. CNN has reported that these explosions were a joint operation between the Mossad and the Israeli military. Subsequently, walkie-talkies detonated in another round of explosions across Lebanon on Wednesday, as reported by a security source to CNN.
These suspected strikes against Hezbollah, supported by Iran, continue Israel’s pattern of covert operations which the government has neither acknowledged nor denied, reportedly carried out by Israeli agents.
Historically, Israel has used explosives in telecommunications devices as a form of retaliation, tracing back to 1972 after the Munich Olympics where 11 Israelis were killed by Black September, a Palestinian militant group. In retaliation, Israel initiated “Operation Wrath of God,” seeking vengeance by tracking those involved. For instance, Mahmoud Hamshari, a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Paris, was targeted when operatives linked to Israeli intelligence planted a bomb in his phone, which was detonated remotely during a phone interview.
This tactic was reminiscent of the assassination in 1996 of Yahya Ayyash, a Hamas bombmaker, who died when his cell phone, rigged with explosives, detonated. This led to retaliatory attacks that resulted in multiple Israeli casualties.
Since 2010, assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, presumed by foreign links, have occurred as Israel attempts to curb its adversary’s nuclear capabilities. Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon hinted at an indirect responsibility for these assassinations during an interview in 2015.
Additionally, Israel and the United States are believed to have deployed the Stuxnet virus, which sabotaged Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010, marking a significant instance where a cyberattack had tangible physical repercussions.
The recent pager explosions could stem from an Israeli cyber breach that caused the devices’ lithium batteries to overheat and explode. However, David Kennedy, a former intelligence analyst at the US National Security Agency, believes the explosions were too intense to be caused merely by a hack, suggesting that Israel might have planted explosives within the pagers that detonated upon receiving specific messages.
The New York Times also reported that Israel had concealed explosives in a shipment of pagers from Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo destined for Hezbollah, which could be detonated remotely.
In other instances, Israel might have employed human intelligence to execute assassinations, such as the July killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which Iran claimed was carried out by a “short-range projectile,” contradicting other reports.
Both the Iranian government and Hamas attribute these actions to Israel, although Israel has not officially confirmed or denied its involvement.
