How did Israel’s Mossad plan the Hezbollah pager cyberattack? Here's what we know so far

The Israeli Mossad is now said to be behind Tuesday’s wide-scale cyberattack against Hezbollah. Thousands of handheld pagers were simultaneously detonated in the highly coordinated attack killing more than a dozen members and injuring thousands more. So, how did they pull it off?

The fatal attack, which targeted the Iranian-backed terror group across Lebanon and Syria, took place in the afternoon causing chaos in the streets.

Thousands of Hezbollah members and nearby civilians were severely injured, and more than a dozen were killed in the precisely timed, simultaneous explosions, shocking unprepared residents going about their daily activities in the capital suburbs of Beirut and Damascus.

“Reports that Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon had their encrypted personal pagers explode while in their pockets,” Israeli author Aviva Klompas posted on X.

The video shows the moment one of the devices exploded on the body of an alleged Hezbollah fighter shopping in a local market.

Warning disclaimer: video may be disturbing to some viewers.

❗️Utterly insane❗️

Reports that Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon had their encrypted personal pagers explode while in their pockets. pic.twitter.com/pUN0Ts40ta

undefined Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) September 17, 2024

A ‘sophisticated’ supply chain operation

As new information and rumors continue to roll in about how the Hezbollah pager attack was carried out, here is what we know so far.

Israel’s Mossad spy agency, thought to be responsible for carrying out the deadly operation, is said to have been planning the attack for at least five months.

The Times of Israel reported that the terror group's chief, Hassan Nasrallah, had personally ordered all Hezbollah members to ditch their cell phones for the pager devices in February to avoid being tracked by Israeli forces.

Going analog has been a signature move for terror groups ever since the September 11th attacks as a way to successfully mask communications from Western militaries and government defense agencies.

A source cited by the Wall Street Journal said many of the affected devices were from a new shipment delivered to Hezbollah militants in recent days.

The deadliest weapon in the Middle East today. pic.twitter.com/ngWhsDYs3w

undefined WarMonitor🇺🇦🇬🇧 (@WarMonitor3) September 17, 2024

Apparently, the encrypted pagers currently in use by Hezbollah were brand new models and bought in bulk for the members just a few months ago, several sources told Reuters.

The New York Times reported that four different Taiwanese-manufactured models were ordered through the Gold Apollo company in Taiwan, although most pagers were said to be model number AP924.

Sources told Sky News Arabia, a 24-hour broadcast news channel in the Middle East, that Mossad agents were able to get a hold of the communication devices “before they were handed over” to Hezbollah, according to the Times.

Once the devices were in the Mossad’s possession, the spy agency “rigged the pagers with explosives before they were imported to Lebanon,” now confirmed by the New York Times.

A highly explosive substance known as PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate) was said to have been placed next to the lithium-ion batteries inside the pagers, along with a remote detonation switch, the New York Times said, which, when triggered, would cause the batteries to heat up and explode,

“If one cell of a lithium-ion battery overheats, it can enter a state of thermal runaway which can quickly spread to other cells in the battery,” according to the UK safety officials at the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue.

“This is an explosive chemical reaction similar to several fireworks going off at once,” the safety officials said. All the Mossad had to do was figure out how to raise the temperature of the batteries from afar, one source had told Sky News Arabia.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that some Hezbollah members felt their pagers heating up, with some of them disposing of the devices before the series of explosions.

The Times of Israel said a Lebanese security source was quoted by Al Jazeera stating that the amount of PETN placed in each device was below 20 grams, or about the equivalent of one and a half tablespoons of sugar.

The New York Times said unnamed American officials briefed on the operation said over 3,000 pagers were ordered and that as long as the pager was turned on and activated by the Hezbollah members, it would have exploded.

In response to the attack, the Lebanon Ministry of Health on Tuesday urged “all citizens who own pagers devices to throw them away immediately,” re-posted by Yemini journalist Ahmed Faozi, translated from Arabic.

وزارة الصحة في لبنان : نطلب من جميع المواطنين الذين يمتلكون أجهزة pagers أن يعمدوا إلى رميها بعيداً عنهم بشكل فوري pic.twitter.com/kasri33OT0

undefined احمد فوزي - Ahmed Faozi (@AFYemeni) September 17, 2024

Detonation delivery method

New reports by the New York Times late Tuesday night have provided more details on how the Mossad agency was able to trigger the devices to explode in unison.

One Hezbollah official told the Associated Press earlier Tuesday that some type of “malware” was used to trigger the devices to detonate.

Other local media outlets reported that pager owners had received a message on the handheld devices before the blasts.

A former British Army munitions expert had told the BBC that once the pager was “armed with a signal – known as an alphanumeric text message – the next person to use the device would have triggered the explosive.”

According to the American officials, at about 3:30 p.m. local time EEST, “the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership,” the New York Times said.

The devices were also said to have been programed to beep consecutively for a few seconds before exploding.

As stated in Cybernews’ full coverage of the Hezbollah pager attacks, an estimated 4000 people in total have been reported injured, hundreds of them critically. As of early morning Wednesday local time EEST, a reported seven people have been killed in Syria and nine in Lebanon due to the pager attacks, including the 10-year-old daughter of a high-ranking Hezbollah leader.

Dozens of top Hezbollah leaders and their advisors have also been reported seriously wounded, although the terror group's chief Hassan Nasrallah was announced unharmed by a Hezbollah spokesperson.

At least 500 Hezbollah fighters have been left blind, local news reports say, and the group has vowed heavy retaliation against Israel.

Hezbollah is a US and EU-designated terror organization, backed by the Iranian government.

The Israeli government has yet to comment and has not officially taken responsibility for the attack.