Israeli leaders became concerned in recent days that Hezbollah might discover the pagers and therefore decided to carry out the attack now.
Israel decided to launch the terror attack on Lebanon by blowing up the pager devices on Tuesday “out of concern its secret operation might have been discovered” by members of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, the Axios news website has reported.
“It was a use it or lose it moment,” a US official is quoted as saying in Wednesday’s report.
Twelve people have died, including two children, and close to 3,000 were wounded in the attack, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
According to Axios, a former Israeli official “with knowledge of the operation” said, “Israeli intelligence services planned to use the booby-trapped pagers it managed to ‘plant’ in Hezbollah’s ranks as a surprise opening blow in an all-out war to try to cripple Hezbollah.”
However, Israeli leaders became concerned in recent days that Hezbollah might discover the pagers and therefore decided to carry out the attack “now rather than take the risk of it being detected,” a US official said.
US Informed
Axios said that when US President Joe Biden’s top adviser Amos Hochstein visited Israel on Monday, Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, “didn’t even give him a hint about what was going on behind the scenes,” another US official is cited as saying.
The report further says that “several minutes before the pagers started exploding across Lebanon, Gallant called U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and told him Israel was about to conduct an operation in Lebanon soon, but refused to give any specific details.”
Israel decided to blow up the pager devices carried by Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday out of concern its secret operation might have been discovered by the group, three U.S. officials told Axios. https://t.co/20YU7iTcxR
— Axios (@axios) September 18, 2024
Gallant’s call “was an attempt to avoid keeping the U.S. totally in the dark,” a US official said, although “specifics of the operation” were not provided.
Regardless, the report added, “US officials said they didn’t see Gallant’s call as a serious prior notice.”
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday “We were not aware of this operation and were not involved.”
The report said that Israel’s concerns “that led to the decision to conduct the attack were first reported by Al-Monitor, which said two Hezbollah operatives raised suspicions about the pagers in recent days.”
‘Concealed Explosives’
Also on Wednesday, the New York Times unveiled new details about how Israel rigged communication devices that exploded, resulting in the deaths and injuries of numerous Lebanese citizens.
‘Israel Planted Explosives’ – NYT Confirms Israel’s Role in Major Attack on Lebanon
According to the newspaper, informed officials revealed that Israel concealed explosives within a shipment of Taiwanese pagers that were imported into Lebanon.
Citing “an American and other officials”, the paper reported that “the pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon”.
“These pagers were likely modified in some way to cause these types of explosions — the size and strength of the explosion indicates it was not just the battery,” Mikko Hypponen, a research specialist at the software company WithSecure and a cybercrime adviser to Europol, was quoted as saying.
Mossad’s Involvement
The report also suggests that earlier this year, Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, “strictly limited the use of cellphones, which he saw as increasingly vulnerable to Israeli surveillance”.
Other media reports also confirmed Israel’s responsibility.
Tensions with Hezbollah Escalate – Nasrallah Expected to Speak
The CNN quoted sources as saying the pager explosions in Lebanon were part of a joint operation between Mossad and the Israeli army.
“CNN has learned that Israel was behind the explosions as part of a joint operation between Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, and the Israeli military,” the American news channel reported.
For its part, the Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources, reported that the compromised communication devices were part of a recent shipment Hezbollah had received.
Hezbollah has warned of “severe retaliation” in response to the destruction of its communication systems, vowing to continue its support for Gaza against Israel.
In a statement, Hezbollah expressed condolences for the victims of the Tuesday attack and indicated that its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, would address the situation in a speech scheduled for Thursday at 5 pm.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
“US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday “We were not aware of this operation and were not involved.”” — give it a rest! All the proxy forces (disposables) know: nothing happens without orders from the Great Satan (USA). All the Zionist neocons in USA are gloating but: the Zionist regime, Galacia, and the scraps of al-Qaeda – your enemies are rising & your “far over the sea” is under your shoulder.
One thing to remember is that the pagers were apparently the licensed product of a Taiwanese Consumer electronics company. The US has placed a huge focus on maintaining Taiwan’s independence. But that does depend on how capable Taiwan is of paying its way. If Taiwan loses GDP income because nobody trusts its manufacturers any more, the US in its blind backing for Israel in anything it does, has just surrendered the entire Asia-Pacific region to the PRC.