The series of explosions which killed several people and injured thousands more in Lebanon on Tuesday was masterminded by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, according to sources cited by Western media.
The Israeli government has not claimed responsibility and has reportedly instructed officials not to comment on the operation, which killed at least ten people, including a child, and left thousands maimed or injured. While an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu originally hinted at the Jewish state’s involvement on X, the post was later removed.
US and other officials cited by The New York Times said Israel had hidden explosives in a shipment of pagers imported from Taiwan. The microcharges, weighing several grams each, were placed next to the battery of each device, the report said.
Reuters and NYT both identified the source of the sabotaged equipment as the firm Gold Apollo. It said the pagers were manufactured by the European company BAC.
The intercepted batch included over 3,000 devices, which the militant group Hezbollah distributed to its members throughout Lebanon, with a handful reaching allies in Iran and Syria, NYT said. Reuters put the number of rigged devices at 5,000, out of which 3,000 were detonated.
Sources in the US government told Axios that Israel had ordered the detonations out of concern that the explosives could be discovered by Hezbollah operatives. One of the officials described it as “a use it or lose it moment.” An Israeli source claimed that the booby-trapped pagers had been meant to be used as a crippling opening blow in a possible all-out war with the movement.
On Monday, a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, visited Israel to hold meetings with Netanyahu and senior members of his government.
Washington claims that it is pressuring West Jerusalem to sign a peace deal with Hamas, the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group which launched last year’s October 7 attack on Israel, prompting the ongoing military operation. The conflict has become the source of newfound regional tensions, with low-intensity clashes taking place on the Lebanese border on a regular basis.
The wave of pager blasts has heightened worries of a wider conflict, according to Axios. Lebanon’s government and Hezbollah leaders have blamed Israel for what caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has called an act of “criminal aggression” against his country.
One of the victims of the attack was Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amini. Tehran, an ally of both Hamas and Hezbollah, has already been targeted by Israel over the course of the conflict.