ISRAEL launched the most elaborate attack in modern warfare with Trojan horse technology built by fake Mossad firms, reports say.
The country’s spies put explosives inside shipments of pagers and set off two sabotage strikes injuring thousands and killing 32.
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Experts have been left shocked by the number of affected devices and the complex operation spies conducted to sabotage them.
Reports now claim Mossad set up shell companies to build the devices themselves.
The gadgets were officially manufactured by Hungarian company BAC Consulting, who denied allegations it had built them.
But the New York Times reported BAC is an Israeli shell company, one of at least three used by spies to mask their identity.
BAC took on ordinary clients for whom they produced ordinary pagers.
Pagers sent to Hezbollah, however, contained the explosive PETN.
The AR-924 pager is described as being “rugged” and contains a rechargeable lithium battery with 85 days of battery life.
Their longevity would be important in Lebanon which has suffered major power outages.
Shipments of the devices to Lebanon started back in 2022.
But the speed of shipments increased recently after the group’s leadership pushed to stop members using cellphones and use pagers, which the Israelis could compromise.
Hezbollah is a “criminal organisation” and uses a number of fronts to buy and sell the weapons and resources the group needs.
These fronts are called ‘monkey firms’ by the Israelis.
Mossad was able to penetrate Hezbollah’s supply chain, possibly with its own ‘monkeys’, and completely fool Hezbollah.
Former British military intelligence expert Philip Ingram told The Sun that Hezbollah has its own supply chains it relies on.
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He said: “Hezbollah tent to use one or two individuals as businesses to import, export most of their stuff from.”
Ingram said those people would need to be highly trusted and would most likely be family members of high-ranking members.
“It looks as if that trusted supplier has been compromised.
“It will have had to been planned very carefully indeed. It will have required a large organisation or an organization with a large reach, to be able to get into the supply chain of Hezbollah.”
Compromising Hezbollah’s trusted supplier could have happened in a number of ways, such as paying off a key figure or completely fooling them.
The Trojan horse strike managed to get explosives near some of the most trusted Hezbollah associates.
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The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon lost an eye after he was struck by an explosion.
The Japanese manufacturer of the walkie-talkies used in Wednesday’s blasts said it was impossible they were used as they ceased making them a decade ago.
ICOM director Yoshiki Enomoto said: “There’s no way a bomb could have been integrated into one of our devices during manufacturing.
“The process is highly automated and fast-paced, so there’s no time for such things.
“If it’s genuine, we’ll have to trace its distribution to figure out how it ended up there.”
Where did the pagers come from?
Iranian proxy Hezbollah ordered the pagers months ago but never thought the quaint piece of tech could be tampered with.
Hezbollah shifted to pagers after the group’s leader told members to stop using phones in February over fears they could be tracked by Israeli spies.
A senior Lebanese security source said the group had ordered 5,000 beepers made by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, which were brought into the country in the spring.
But Gold Apollo told media in Taipei Wednesday the specific order was manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT in Budapest.
Gold Apollo boss Hsu Ching-kuang said BAC asked to manufacture their own pagers with the Taipei company’s trademark.
Hsu said they were paid from a mystery Middle Eastern bank account, NPR reports.
BAC Consulting chief executive Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono confirmed to media that her company worked with Gold Apollo.
But said, “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate.”
At some point during the manufacture, the devices were modified by Israel’s spy service with a small amount of explosive.
Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies and harder for Israel to hack digitally.
Some reports said the affected pagers were only delivered to Hezbollah recently.
British pager firm denies knowledge of bomb plot
By Nick Parker, Foreign Editor
THE British-educated boss of the firm said to have manufactured the pagers denied any knowledge of the bomb plot on Tuesday.
Glamorous Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, who lists “disaster management” as a skill, is listed as the chief executive of Hungarian company BAC Consulting KFT.
She said: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediary. I think you got it wrong.”
Barsony-Arcidiacono, inset, who is in her 40s, lived in Gospel Oak, North London, during 13 years in the UK, studying at various universities.
The businesswoman speaks seven languages and claims to specialise in resolving “conflict issues”.
She did a PhD in physical sciences at University College London between 2002 and 2006, before a masters in sustainable development for management of natural resources from 2009 to 2014.
She then studied for a diploma in politics at the London School of Economics from 2015 to 2017.
She says she also worked as an evaluation expert at the European Commission.
On her LinkedIn profile, she describes having “with love devoted myself to science and development”.
She boasts she can “lead/strategise/catalyse environmental, political and development programs of broad scope and complexity”.
She also says she “enjoys working in a multicultural environment where passion, integrity and humour are valued”.
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