Operationally, Israel's bombing of communication devices aimed to incapacitate as many Hezbollah members as possible before launching its broader military offensive. By September 24, 2024, Israel had initiated a wide-scale assault that resulted in 492 deaths and 1,645 injuries on the first day alone.
Ali Noureddine
This article was translated from Arabic to English
On Tuesday, September 17, 2024, multiple regions across Lebanon experienced an unprecedented security incident when thousands of communication devices, known as pagers, exploded simultaneously during daytime. These explosions occurred in homes, markets and streets, creating widespread chaos. The following day, additional blasts – though fewer in number but more intense – emanated from the batteries of Icom wireless communication devices, igniting fires in homes and vehicles.
These consecutive events tragically resulted in 37 deaths and 3,539 injuries, many of which involved victims losing their eyesight or limbs.
The incident was unmistakably an intelligence and technical breach, with clear indications of Israeli involvement. The devices, used by Hezbollah to send alerts to members outside combat zones, had been rigged with explosives before their import. The perpetrators ensured that an alert prompted recipients to hold the devices near their eyes just before detonation, causing severe and permanent physical damage, particularly to the eyes and limbs.
This deliberate tactic led to an overwhelming number of critical injuries, far exceeding the capacity of the country’s healthcare system to manage.
Details of the Intelligence and Technical Breach
In the hours following the bombings on Tuesday, details of the sophisticated security operation began to surface. The owner of Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company whose trademark was used in the manufacturing of the booby-trapped pagers, quickly clarified that his company did not produce the specific model of the devices purchased by Hezbollah. He explained that Gold Apollo had granted a franchise to a Hungarian company, BAC Consulting, to manufacture and distribute the devices, positioning his company, in his view, as a victim of this “shameful” incident.
A closer investigation into BAC Consulting revealed that it was likely a front company created solely for the purpose of executing this operation. Established in 2022, the company had a basic website that was shut down immediately after the attacks. There was no information about the nature of its business or the products and services it offered. Moreover, investigative journalism uncovered no evidence of any legitimate industrial activity or business deals associated with BAC Consulting, aside from the booby-trapped pager transaction.
The company was reportedly owned and managed by a mysterious Hungarian-Italian woman named Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, who has remained silent except for a brief, one-sentence phone call to NBC, during which she described herself as merely a “broker,” without further clarification. Upon visiting the company’s listed headquarters, it was discovered that the entity had no physical presence there, as is often the case with shell companies.
Further investigation revealed that the perpetrators of this operation also enlisted the services of another shell company, Norta Global, based in Bulgaria. Although Bulgarian intelligence indicated there were no customs records showing that the devices passed through Bulgaria, sources from the Bulgarian National Security Agency revealed that Norta Global had financed the operation by transferring €1.6 million to Hungary, as reported by Bulgarian channel BTV.
Like BAC Consulting, Norta Global had no actual operations at its listed address, and its website was promptly taken down after the attack. The company’s sole registered owner and administrator, Norwegian citizen Renson Jose, disappeared on a “business trip” immediately following the incident. Media outlets have been unable to find any record of legitimate industrial or technological activity tied to the company.
Despite the ambiguity surrounding the dealings between these shell companies, it became clear that the plot had been in motion for years, orchestrated by brokers and intermediaries who carefully concealed the operation’s security dimensions. Israel exploited Hezbollah’s reliance on black market networks and intermediaries to procure such goods, taking advantage of the group’s limited access to reputable technology suppliers.
While much has been revealed about the booby-trapping of the pagers, no substantial details have emerged regarding the tampering of the Icom wireless device batteries. Notably, Icom, a leading company in this field, had ceased production of the specific model that was targeted over a decade ago, leaving questions about which suppliers were involved in delivering the compromised shipment to Hezbollah.
Violation of International Humanitarian Law
Although the operation formally targeted Hezbollah and its members, it undoubtedly constitutes a war crime under international human rights law, as outlined in various international treaties and conventions, particularly the Geneva Conventions, their annexes, and additional protocols.
Israel’s actions in this instance violated the “principle of distinction,” which mandates that military operations be limited to legitimate military targets to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian assets – such as homes, markets and non-military infrastructure. In reality, the operation led to thousands of explosions targeting civilian locations where Hezbollah members were present but not engaged in combat.
As a result, the victims included many civilians, including children, women and the elderly, who were harmed simply because they were near the booby-trapped devices, which also endangered the families of Hezbollah members.
Moreover, the operation also affected non-combatant members of Hezbollah who work in health, administrative and political sectors that utilize the same communication devices. This broad targeting violates international humanitarian law, which stipulates that attacks should be limited to combatants within such organizations.
Even reserve soldiers, volunteers and part-time workers are prohibited from being targeted outside of active combat zones, as they are considered civilians when not engaged in military activities, even if they use communication devices that facilitate alerts and summonses.
While international law does not prohibit conventional methods of deception in warfare, it explicitly forbids “perfidy,” such as “feigning civilian or non-combatant status” in order to “exploit an adversary’s trust with the intent to betray that trust” (as stated in Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions). This prohibition is particularly relevant in the context of creating shell companies that appear to conduct legitimate civilian business in Europe when, in reality, they are used to mask covert and illicit security operations.
Dimensions of the Israeli Operation
The operation clearly involved manipulation of the supply chain, as the devices were booby-trapped prior to their arrival. However, it also incorporated a cyberattack, which hacked into the local pager network to send the alert that prompted Hezbollah members to pick up the devices and look at them. Israel also used this hack to send the detonation signal, as confirmed by the fact that devices disconnected from the network did not explode.
Many cybersecurity experts have pointed out that this operation sets a new precedent, reshaping the world’s perception of warfare and its tools. The combination of cyberattacks with supply chain manipulation has revealed the immense threat these tactics can pose.
In essence, Israel has demonstrated how mass casualties can be achieved through this lethal combination. While modern intelligence agencies and militaries have previously employed cyberattacks or supply chain hacking to carry out assassinations, Israel’s innovation was in merging these methods to execute a large-scale massacre.
Operationally, Israel aimed to incapacitate as many Hezbollah members as possible before launching its broader military offensive. This objective was echoed in the bombing of Beirut’s southern suburb during the same week, targeting the leadership of Hezbollah’s elite “Radwan” force.
By September 24, 2024, Israel had initiated a wide-scale assault that resulted in 492 deaths and 1,645 injuries on the first day alone. At least 1,540 people have been killed and 5,410 people have been wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of conflict with Israel, at the time of writing.