Israel planned pager attacks for 15 years ABC News

Israeli intelligence has long suspected an attack using explosive devices, US source says

Israeli intelligence agencies are considering carrying out an operation similar to the massive explosions of Hezbollah electronic devices that occurred this week for at least 15 years, a US intelligence source told ABC News.

Thousands of people were injured in Lebanon in a series of explosions Tuesday and Wednesday when pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices used by the militant group exploded simultaneously. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the incident, although media reports have widely described it as a Mossad plot to plant explosives in the gadgets that could be detonated remotely.

A U.S. source told ABC News it was a “supply chain takedown,” adding that the CIA has long been reluctant to use such tactics because of the risk of collateral damage. In Lebanon, children were among dozens of people killed in an attack that also left scores of victims maimed.

The New York Times previously reported that deliveries of the sabotaged devices would begin in the summer of 2023, citing multiple officials with knowledge of the operation.

BAC Consulting, a Hungarian company contracted by Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Gold Apollo to produce pagers for Hezbollah, is an Israeli front, ABC News reported.

The devices were never located in Hungary and BAC was a “commercial intermediary with no place of production or operational activity” in the country, a government spokesman in Budapest said.

Taiwanese authorities also distanced themselves from the autonomous Chinese island, which has been the target of a wave of violence in Lebanon.

“The components are (mainly) low-end integrated circuits (ICs) and batteries,” Economic Affairs Minister Kuo Jyh-huei told reporters on Friday, according to Reuters. “I can say with certainty that they were not made in Taiwan.”

Beirut and Hezbollah leaders blamed Israel for the incident and declared that Lebanon was now at war with its neighbor.

The Israel Defense Forces stepped up shelling of Lebanon on Thursday in what observers said could be a prelude to a major ground invasion. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday declared a “new phase of war” against the militant movement. An Israeli commando division previously involved in military operations in the Gaza Strip has moved north amid escalating tensions.

Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Lebanon in 1982 – leading to a three-year partial occupation of the country and the rise of Hezbollah as a significant military and political force – and again in 2006, leading to a month-long invasion.

(RT.com)