The audacious mission planned by Israel over a decade, involving booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies, culminated three months ago in a deadly strike that left at least 30 dead in Lebanon and Syria.
Two recently retired senior Israeli intelligence agents have revealed how the Mossad targeted Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Syria.
The agents, who spoke anonymously to CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday, shed light on the operation’s intricate details and its psychological ramifications.
“We created a pretend world,” said one of the agents, identified only as “Michael.” Speaking through masks and with altered voices to conceal their identities, the agents described how the operation began a decade ago with walkie-talkies embedded with explosives.
These devices were covertly supplied to Hezbollah, who remained oblivious to their lethal nature until September 2024 when they exploded.
A decade of deception
The genesis of the plan can be traced back to 2013, when Mossad identified a vulnerability in Hezbollah’s procurement process. Using shell companies, including one based in Hungary, Israeli operatives managed to infiltrate the supply chain.
By 2022, the operation escalated with the introduction of pagers purchased by Hezbollah from a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. These pagers were modified to house explosives, meticulously tested to ensure they would harm only their immediate handlers.
“We tested everything,” said the second agent, known as “Gabriel.” “From the amount of explosives to the ringtone that would make someone instinctively pull the pager out of their pocket.”
Gabriel likened the deception to the 1998 film The Truman Show, describing how Hezbollah operated within a false reality constructed by Mossad. “They had zero clue they were buying from us,” he said. “Everything, from marketing to engineering, was controlled by us.”
By September 2024, Hezbollah militants were unknowingly carrying 5,000 booby-trapped pagers. On September 17, these devices began beeping simultaneously across Lebanon. The explosions, triggered remotely, killed approximately 30 militants and left scores wounded. The following day, the walkie-talkies were detonated, some during funerals for those killed in the pager attacks.
“If he’s just dead, so he’s dead,” Gabriel explained. “But if he’s wounded, you have to take him to the hospital, care for him. Those people without hands and eyes are living proof of our superiority. They’re walking in Lebanon, showing ‘don’t mess with us.’”
Going beyond immediate deaths, injuries
The psychological toll extended beyond the casualties. “People in Lebanon were afraid to turn on their air conditioners, fearing they might explode,” Michael said. “We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are.”
For Mossad, the operation’s success was not just in the number of Hezbollah casualties but in the broader message it sent. “We can’t use the pagers again,” Michael admitted. “But we’ve moved on to the next thing. And Hezbollah will always have to guess what’s coming next.”
The strike unfolded against the backdrop of escalating violence following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which plunged the region into war. Hezbollah’s retaliation was swift, with strikes targeting Israel almost immediately. In the days after the covert operation, Israel’s air force launched a series of attacks across Lebanon, killing thousands. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated when Israeli forces bombed his bunker.
By November, the war between Israel and Hezbollah ended with a ceasefire. The broader Israel-Hamas conflict, however, continued to exact a devastating toll, with Palestinian health officials reporting over 45,000 deaths in Gaza.