New Details Emerge on Israel's 'Pager Operation' Near-Miss

New details have been cleared for publication regarding the "Pager Operation" in September 2024, a covert Israeli action against Hezbollah. The revelations come ahead of the U.S. release of a documentary titled "Paging Hezbollah," directed by Justin Folk, set for October 30th. The film explores the behind-the-scenes drama of the operation, which involved disabling pagers distributed by Hezbollah's leadership.

In the weeks leading up to the operation, Israeli security forces became aware that a Hezbollah operative had begun to suspect the pagers and was investigating them. To prevent exposure, Israel assassinated the operative in a targeted strike in early August 2024. The strike was disguised to appear as though the primary target was someone else present with the operative.

Further complicating matters, Iran sent an unusual shipment of advanced scanning machines to Lebanon, intended to verify the pagers' authenticity. The Israeli Air Force subsequently bombed this shipment, destroying the scanners. This attack was also masked, presented as part of a routine intelligence operation.

The documentary features interviews with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Mossad chief David Barnea, and former Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Uri Gordin. The filmmakers detail how Israel infiltrated Hezbollah's encrypted communications network through sophisticated engineering of the devices and deep penetration of the terror group's international supply chain.