The bold mission planned by Israel for a decade, which involves pager and walkie-talkies, culminating 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 intricate details of the operation and its psychological consequences.
“We created a make-believe 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 secretly delivered to Hezbollah, who remained unaware of 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 the Mossad identified a vulnerability in Hezbollah’s procurement process. Using shell companies, including one based in Hungary, Israeli operators managed to infiltrate the supply chain.
In 2022, operations escalated with the introduction of pagers purchased by Hezbollah from a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. These pagers were modified to house explosives, carefully tested to ensure they would only harm 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, which depicted how Hezbollah operated in a false reality constructed by the Mossad. “They had no idea they were buying from us,” he said. “Everything, from marketing to engineering, was controlled by us.”
In September 2024, Hezbollah militants unwittingly carried 5,000 pagers. On September 17, these units began beeping simultaneously over Lebanon. The blasts, triggered remotely, killed around 30 militants and left scores injured. The following day, walkie-talkies were detonated, some during funerals for those killed in the pager attacks.
“If he’s just dead, he’s dead,” Gabriel explained. “But if he is injured, you must take him to the hospital, take care of him. These people without hands and eyes are living proof of our superiority. They walk in Lebanon and show that ‘don’t mess with us.’
Goes beyond instant deaths, injuries
The psychological toll extended beyond the injured. “People in Lebanon were afraid to turn on their air conditioners, afraid they would explode,” Michael said. “We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are.”
For the Mossad, the operation’s success lay not only 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 comes next.”
The strike took place 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 attacks targeting Israel almost immediately. In the days following the covert operation, Israel’s air force launched a series of attacks across Lebanon, killing thousands. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed when Israeli forces bombed his bunker.
In November, the war between Israel and Hezbollah ended with a ceasefire. However, the wider conflict between Israel and Hamas continued to take a devastating toll, with Palestinian health officials reporting over 45,000 deaths in Gaza.
