A year later: Inside Israel’s unprecedented pager attack on Hezbollah

Report by Wissam Nasrallah, English adaptation by Mariella Succar 

It has been a year since the events that remain indelibly etched in Lebanese memory. On the morning of September 17, Israeli forces set off explosives hidden in pagers, later targeting additional wireless devices used by Hezbollah. What new details have emerged over the past year?

The operation was a meticulously planned intelligence effort that took years. Israel planted small explosive devices inside thousands of communication devices Hezbollah ordered through companies that later turned out to be fictitious.

Inside each pager battery, Mossad hid approximately six grams of the highly explosive PETN, along with a detonator made of a highly flammable substance. The unusual element: detonators are typically metallic cylinders, not the material placed in the pagers.

Over the year, further details have emerged from two senior retired Mossad agents who played leading roles in the operation.

The operation was set in motion from Tel Aviv at the push of a button, though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed seven months later that the timing had been forced earlier than originally planned.

Netanyahu himself presented a golden pager to U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting in Washington. On the device’s screen appeared the last instruction seen by thousands of Hezbollah members before the simultaneous explosions: “Press with both hands.” The pager detonations blinded hundreds, severed fingers, and killed nearly 40 people, including children.

The September 17, 2024, operation was unprecedented in history and marked a turning point in the open war on Lebanon.

On its first anniversary, the central question remains: how did Hezbollah fall for the security and technical deception? From fictitious companies to oversized devices and technical inspections, the ruse succeeded.

Notably, Hezbollah had informed Turkish authorities earlier this year about another shipment of Explosives-laden pagers at Istanbul Airport intended for Lebanon—after the September 17 explosions.

Hezbollah has offered no public explanation of what occurred or the results of its internal investigations, leaving the unraveling of the largest intelligence operation in modern history reliant on Israel’s disclosures.