The Rest Is Classified, Ep. 87 – "Mossad Pager Attack: Crippling Hezbollah (Ep 2)"

Podcast: The Rest Is Classified
Hosts: David McCloskey, Gordon Corera
Date: September 30, 2025

Overview

In this gripping episode, David McCloskey and Gordon Corera delve into one of the most audacious covert operations of the modern era: Mossad’s sophisticated sabotage of Hezbollah through wired pagers—“beepers”—designed to maim rather than kill. The episode traces the operation's intricately constructed supply chain, the decision-making calculus that led to its deployment, the bloody fallout, and how technological subversion played a crucial role in reshaping the regional balance of power.

The discussion broadens to ethical considerations, the psychological dimension of asymmetric warfare, and modern vulnerabilities in global supply chains. The hosts, blending journalistic investigation with an insider’s perspective on intelligence, offer a rare look at the opaque world where espionage meets high-stakes geopolitics.

1. The Mossad Pagers: Intent and Impact

Mossad’s Calculated Cruelty

• The operation was not just about killing Hezbollah operatives; it was about wounding them—physically and psychologically—sending a message of Israeli superiority and deterrence.

“If he's just dead, so he's dead. But if he's wounded… Those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon of don't mess with us.”
— Israeli intelligence officer, quoted at [00:24]

• The operation became a turning point in the conflict, as the debilitating effects demoralized Hezbollah’s leadership, notably their Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah.

“Nasrallah’s eyes, he was defeated. ...This was the tipping point of the war.”
— Israeli intelligence officer, quoted at [00:24]

2. Anatomy of the Operation

Setting the Trap: Crafting a Fake Supply Chain ([01:14-07:44])

• The Supply Chain: Mossad created front companies (e.g., Apollo Systems HK) and used a maze of shell companies and middlemen to embed explosive-laden pagers into Hezbollah’s procurement network.
• The Pawn: Theresa Wu, a former Gold Apollo sales rep, emerges as a plausible intermediary linking Mossad’s operation to Hezbollah’s buyers.
• Confusing on Purpose: The payment trail winds through Israeli banks, Hungarian fronts (BAC Consulting), Hong Kong, and fake companies, purposely obfuscating Mossad’s involvement.

"The Mossad officers who drew this up on a whiteboard somewhere were not drawing it up to make it simple. …They were drawing it up to hide Mossad's hand."
— David McCloskey, [05:06]

• Product Specifics: Apollo Systems HK is the sole distributor of the AR924 pager and its unique battery, LI BT783—the Trojan horses of this operation.

Engineering Sabotage: The Exploding Battery ([07:44–15:55])

• The pagers were rugged and battlefield-ready, but their true weapon was in the battery, which contained PETN plastic explosive and a novel detonator disguised to evade X-rays.

“If you get encrypted message, …have to press the buttons with your hands… The Israelis built it this way almost certainly so that they would end up blowing as many hands off as they possibly could.” — David McCloskey, [07:44]

• Reuters’ investigation confirmed the presence of 6 grams of explosives per battery, ingeniously camouflaged in a ‘calzone’-like structure between real battery cells.

• Mossad even experimented with ringtones and user behavior to maximize injuries and minimize collateral damage, while making the bombs invisible to both X-rays and suspicion.

Psychological and Digital Manipulation ([15:55–18:04])

• Mossad seeded online battery forums with posts and fake user reviews to bolster the battery’s credibility, even replying to suspicious buyers—likely Hezbollah operatives—posing as legitimate users.

“It does feel like…this exchange is possibly between Hezbollah and Mossad.” — Gordon Corera, [17:07]

• Mossad created fake retail sites and, when contacted by non-Hezbollah buyers, simply raised prices to discourage purchase.

“If they did get legitimate outreach…they made the price so outrageous that the conversation just stopped.” — David McCloskey, [18:11]

3. Delivery and Detonation

Getting the Devices Into Hezbollah Hands ([18:04–19:49])

• Mossad capitalized on buyer hesitation by lowering prices and even offering free samples. The pagers were delivered to Hezbollah in February 2024 during a period of intense paranoia over Israeli penetration of their ranks.

The Calculus for Action ([21:49–29:45])

• By Autumn 2024, Israel faced a debilitating, low-level conflict on its northern border. Hezbollah had improved its tactics, threatening Israel’s sense of security.

“The Israelis are in this kind of awkward and… unsustainable stasis because the Hezbollah attacks are growing much more sophisticated. They’re using drones, precision-guided munitions…it’s become a lab for Hezbollah.”
— David McCloskey, [22:16]

• Israeli leadership, spooked by intelligence leaks and with an expiring operational window, decided to strike hard. Both a desire to re-establish deterrence and concern that Hezbollah was close to uncovering the operation were factors in the decision.

The Attack ([29:45–32:54])

• On the afternoon of September 17, 2024, Mossad triggered the attack: pagers exploded as recipients decrypted fake, urgent messages.

• The design guaranteed maximum injury to hands and eyes—“victims rushed to hospital with eye injuries, missing fingers, holes in their abdomens.”

• Tragic incident: a young girl, Fatima Abdullah, was injured after picking up the pager for her father. Even an Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was among the injured.

“She hears the beeper going off… she picks up the device to take it to her dad and was holding it when it exploded. So she’s, you know, a nine-year-old innocent girl.”
— David McCloskey, [30:54]

• When some devices weren't decrypted immediately, Mossad triggered the rest just moments later. Initial blame on cyberattacks quickly faded when the true explosive nature was revealed.

• The next day, previously-rigged walkie-talkies were detonated across the network.

Casualties:

• 37 people killed (including at least two children)
• 3,000 wounded, including many civilians

“It really…is the opening salvo of an Israeli attempt to…re-establish deterrence with Hezbollah and to do…what they were unable to do in 2006—to flatten morale.”
— David McCloskey, [32:14]

4. Psychological and Strategic Effects

Targeting Beyond Fighters ([32:54–35:37])

• Pagers weren’t just given to elite commandos but also to reservists and support personnel, extending both the operational reach and psychological trauma deeper into Hezbollah's societal base.

“These are not all fighters…It’s people like that who are being targeted by the operation, which arguably…makes it very successful…A devastating blow to your ability to recruit manpower.”
— David McCloskey, [34:05]

Questions of Morality ([35:37–36:38])

• The operation’s morality is contested: Is this "killing to save lives," as former Mossad chief Meir Dagan once asserted, or a form of terrorism by targeting quasi-civilian militia members and their families?

“I don’t think in the Israeli calculation, there’s any real distinction between those two…The morality…is to avoid the broader conflict where tens of thousands of people are killed.”
— David McCloskey, [35:37]

“…there would be the perspective that…this is a terrorist attack.” — David McCloskey, [39:39]

5. Escalation and Resolution

The Broader Campaign ([36:38–41:36])

• The attacks on the pagers and walkie-talkies signaled the onset of a broader, ruthless Israeli offensive:

  • 20 September: Israeli airstrike wipes out Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit.
  • Ground invasion: Thousands of Hezbollah fighters are killed; half their arsenal is destroyed.
  • 27 September: Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, killed in a bunker-busting airstrike.
  • 28 September: Nabil Kauk, leading the pager investigation, killed in an airstrike.

• The aftermath:

  • Hezbollah’s organizational structure severely damaged.
  • International pressure mounts on Hezbollah to disarm.
  • Sign of Israeli responsibility: Netanyahu gifts Trump a golden pager on a U.S. visit.

“…That’s claiming responsibility there without claiming responsibility, isn’t it?” — Gordon Corera, [39:20]

Outcome and Strategic Victory ([41:36–43:40])

• Despite moral concerns, the operation was “tremendously” effective:
  • Hezbollah agreed to an unfavorable ceasefire; handed over weapons from southern Lebanon.
  • Israel won both the psychological and practical rounds of the conflict; Hezbollah is left "rudderless and weakened."

6. Lessons Learned: Supply Chain Vulnerabilities ([43:40–44:32])

• The operation highlights the dangers of modern supply chain exposure:
  • Espionage isn’t just digital; the physical compromise of hardware poses massive risks.
  • Organizations worldwide, even outside the conflict, were forced to rethink security amid fears of similar sabotage.

“The problem in the future is not going to be pagers. It’s going to be something else within that supply chain which someone is going to weaponize and use and cause trouble on either spy or sabotage.”
— Gordon Corera, [44:32]

7. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Mossad’s objective:

  “They are walking proof of our superiority all around the Middle East.”
  — Israeli intelligence officer, [00:24]

• On the online battery review farce:

  “Hezbollah and Mossad are having a conversation on a review of a battery forum. It’s just kind of nuts.”
  — Gordon Corera, [17:07]

• On Israeli strategy:

  “The Israelis are more than happy to accept the collateral damage that came along with this.”
  — David McCloskey, [10:46]

• On the campaign's moral complexity:

  “From the Israeli perspective, killing to save lives…and on the other side…this is a terrorist attack.”
  — David McCloskey, [39:39]

• On Netanyahu’s subtle acknowledgment:

  “…Netanyahu…gifts [Trump] a golden pager…That’s claiming responsibility there without claiming responsibility, isn’t it?”
  — Gordon Corera, [39:20]

8. Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:24] — Israeli officer on the intention behind the attack
• [01:14–07:44] — Planning the supply chain infiltration and front companies
• [07:44–15:55] — Technical teardown of the pager and battery sabotage
• [17:05] — Hezbollah and Mossad unwittingly engaging on battery forums
• [21:49–29:45] — Shifting Israeli strategy and decision to trigger the operation
• [29:45–32:54] — The attack: Execution and immediate effects
• [35:37–36:38] — Ethical and moral debate on targeting civilians vs. military
• [36:38–41:36] — Broader Israeli campaign and aftermath of the attack
• [43:40–44:32] — Broader technological/supply chain implications

9. Conclusion

The Mossad pager attack was a watershed in covert operations: technologically cunning, morally ambiguous, and strategically decisive. The episode not only unpacks the anatomy of the operation but raises urgent questions for the future about the vulnerabilities of increasingly complex supply chains and the blurry line between combatant and civilian in modern hybrid warfare.

Stay tuned for an upcoming bonus interview with James Pearson of Reuters, whose investigative work helped expose the operation.

End of Summary