Inside Israel's 'booby-trapped pagers' operation: Mossad agents speak out in new report

Report by Wissam Nasrallah, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

The "booby-trapped pagers" incident, which continues to reverberate in the media more than two months after it occurred, is one that many find difficult to fully comprehend.

On that day, Israel detonated thousands of pagers carried by Hezbollah operatives, followed by the detonation of wireless devices the next day.

A new development emerged with a recent report by CBS News on its "60 Minutes" program, featuring two retired senior Mossad agents with leading roles in the operation.

Many of the details in the report are not new, such as the creation of front companies by the Mossad to sell devices to Hezbollah or that the purchase of the booby-trapped wireless devices took place years ago. 

However, the testimonies of the Mossad agents reveal the precision involved in turning a communication device into a timed bomb, the careful selection of a ringtone designed to prompt the user to respond quickly, the online marketing of the product, and even confirmation that former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah witnessed the pagers exploding.

Following the pager explosion incident, the name "Gold Apollo," a Taiwanese company, was circulated, which at the time denied any involvement in the events. And that was true, at least from their perspective.

Nearly 30 individuals died, and more than 3,000 people were wounded as a result of the booby-trapped pagers and wireless devices. However, Israel's aim in this operation was not just to kill but to achieve something much more significant.

Thus, the pager explosion incident remains a testament to how warfare has evolved and intersected with technology, where confrontations are no longer limited to traditional battlefields but extend into hidden dimensions, using innovation to change the course of the conflict.