Israel Went Beyond Rigging: It Built Hezbollah's Explosive Pagers From Scratch

A series of explosions involving pagers across Lebanon on September 18 resulted in the deaths of at least nine people and left over 3,000 injured. It has now been revealed that Israel used a shell company to produce the devices, secretly rigging them with explosives before handing them over to the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah.At around 3:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday, the pagers across Lebanon began beeping, delivering a message from Hezbollah leadership to their operatives through a chorus of chimes, melodies, and buzzes. But it wasn’t their leaders who had sent the pages. The messages came from Hezbollah’s archenemy, and within seconds, the alerts were followed by explosions, along with cries of pain and panic echoing through streets, shops, and homes across Lebanon. New reports from The New York Times suggest that Israel set up a shell company to manufacture the pagers, with the entire operation being far more complex than initially thought. Israel also established at least two additional companies to conceal the true identities of those involved in creating the pagers, according to Tehran's Mehr News Agency.Israel's intelligence agency Mossad, renowned for its successful bombings and foreign operations, was on their radar. In response, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah cautioned his operatives and members to steer clear of modern communication devices, such as cellphones, which could be hacked and weaponised against them.As a result, Hezbollah began using pagers for internal communication. They soon placed an order for thousands of pagers to ensure secure and discreet messaging. In recent months, the devices were imported from a Hungary-based company called BAC, which penetrated through Hezbollah's ranks. One of the pagers was even in the possession of the Iranian ambassador in Beirut. When the explosions occurred, his pager exploded as well, injuring the diplomat.

What Was Israel's Plan?After the mass order of pagers from Lebanon, Israeli intelligence set up a shell company named BAC Consulting. The shell company operated under the branding of the Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo, under a three-year brand-incencing agreement. According to a report in The Independent, the shell company BAC Consulting, based in Hungary, appeared to be manufacturing pagers for various clients under its agreement with Taiwan's Gold Apollo.Behind the scenes, BAC was covertly producing modified pagers loaded with the powerful explosive PETN, specifically aimed at Hezbollah, according to The New York Times.However, the CEO of BAC Consultancy has denied claims that the company manufactured the pagers. BAC CEO Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono stated that she was merely a link in the supply chain and was not involved in the manufacturing of the pagers, according to reports by The Independent.The New York Times, citing three intelligence officers briefed on the operation, described BAC as an Israeli front.