Report: Hezbollah pager attack launched ahead of schedule

[New Sancai Compilation and First Release] According to reports, a pager attack in Jerusalem targeting Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists was brought forward due to concerns that Iranian proxies may discover the plan.

The Arab American news site Al-Monitor first reported that Israel originally planned to wait until the eve of an all-out war to launch the attack, but decided to detonate the pagers at the last minute after at least two Hezbollah members suspected something was going on.

Three U.S. officials confirmed to Axios that the covert operation was brought forward due to concerns about being discovered by terrorist groups.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for the attack and vowed revenge. The Lebanese Prime Minister also accused Israel of being behind the incident. Jerusalem, for its part, has failed to take responsibility.

Lufthansa and Air France announced on September 17 that flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Beirut had been suspended until September 19 due to heightened tensions.

According to unconfirmed reports, on September 17, a pager belonging to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon exploded, killing at least nine Hezbollah terrorists and injuring about 3,000 people. At least 14 terrorists were injured in neighboring Syria. Senior Hezbollah officials were said to have been injured in the blast.

A pager carried by Iran's ambassador to Lebanon exploded, leaving one eye blind and another seriously injured. According to Iranian media reports, two of Amini's bodyguards were also injured when their own pager exploded.

A former Israeli official familiar with the operation told Axios reporter Barak Ravid that Jerusalem planned to use booby-trapped pagers in the hands of Hezbollah operatives and leaders "as a surprise opening strike in an all-out war to try to weaken Hezbollah." ”.

However, "in recent days, Israeli leaders became concerned that Hezbollah might discover the pagers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his top ministers, and the heads of the IDF and intelligence agencies decided to use the system immediately." A U.S. official said.

The New York Times quoted U.S. and other officials familiar with the operation as saying that Israel carried out the operation "by hiding explosive materials in a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported to Lebanon."

Additionally, the pagers were ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan and were tampered with before arriving in Lebanon, according to the Times. However, the company said in a statement after the Times report that the models carried by Hezbollah members were manufactured and sold by a Hungarian franchise, with Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT.

The company's official statement said: "Under our cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our trademarks in specific areas for manufacturing and sales, but development and production are entirely their responsibility." The company said that BAC sold and exploded The model number is AR-924.

Taiwan's Ministry of Commerce stated on the morning of September 18 that the explosive communication equipment had been "processed" after being exported, and there was no record of Taiwan's exports to Lebanon that matched this batch of goods. Taiwanese police also reportedly raided Kim Apollo's office in New Taipei City.

Each device had a small amount of explosive material implanted next to its battery, as little as one to two ounces, the Times reported. A switch is embedded that can be triggered remotely to detonate the explosive.

At 3:30 pm Lebanese time, a message was received that appeared to be from the leadership of Hezbollah. The devices, which turn on and receive messages, will beep for a few seconds before exploding, the report said.

A member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told The Times that pagers beeped for about 10 seconds before the explosion, prompting some people to hold the pagers close to their faces to check for messages.

Earlier this year, Nasrallah restricted the use of cellphones he believed were vulnerable to Israeli surveillance, according to The Times. More than 3,000 pagers were ordered and distributed to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon and to the terror group's allies in Syria and Iran.

According to Israeli government figures, more than 60,000 people have been evacuated from their homes near the Lebanese border since October, when Iranian-backed terrorists launched almost daily rocket, missile and drone attacks in Gaza. to support the Hamas terrorist group's invasion of the northwestern Negev the day before.

Hezbollah's attacks have so far killed more than 40 people in Israel and caused widespread damage.

(Compiled by: Wang Jimin)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: Compiled and published by New Sancai)