A lengthy, detailed and very interesting article for military tech-heads.
Article dated 22 October 2024, before the Israeli strike on Iran.
The existence of a secret Israeli drone, referred to as RA-01 and used for covert missions, has emerged from an unauthorized disclosure of U.S. intelligence documents which have now been posted all over social media. Israel’s possession of at least a pocket fleet of long-range stealth drones capable of gathering intelligence and possibly conducting strikes is extremely logical to the point of it being a bit odd if they never pursued such a capability. Israel is home to an extensive and often pioneering uncrewed aviation industry and drones of this kind would be very well suited to supporting the country’s ongoing stand-off with Iran. During a major Israeli operation to strike targets in that country, they would likely play an indispensable role, as well.
From long-range missiles to bunker-busting bombs, Israel has spent decades and billions developing specialized munitions for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Over recent decades, Israel’s defense establishment has invested billions in preparing for a potential strike on Iran, developing specialized munitions along the way. Some of these capabilities were only revealed after being sold to foreign air forces. Here’s what can be disclosed amidst these preparations.
Last month, Israel conducted another strike in Yemen, deploying F-15 jets from a base 1,800 kilometers away, showcasing its renowned improvisation skills. These aircraft, initially designed for air combat, were modified in Israel for strike missions. The Israeli Air Force also equipped them to carry modern munitions from both American and Israeli manufacturers.
However, an attack on Iran presents a far more complex challenge, despite the similar distance.
Iran’s nuclear facilities and ballistic missile bases are deeply embedded underground, in contrast to less-protected targets like oil terminals. Additionally, Iran operates an advanced air defense system, primarily domestically developed. According to their claims, yet to be tested, this system matches the capabilities of Russian systems like the S-300, which can intercept missiles launched by Israel. However, the Israeli-attributed strike on Isfahan after Iran’s April attack was not intercepted by these advanced defenses. Iran also maintains an outdated fleet, including Russian MiG-29s and American F-14s from the Shah’s era, which continue to operate despite international sanctions.
In light of these challenges, Israel’s defense forces have spent 20 years preparing for a possible strike on Iran, investing billions of dollars and shekels. This investment includes developing specialized munitions, some of which even the US declined to sell to Israel, as well as innovations not available to the US.
Striking from 1,800 km away
Strikes at a range of about 2,000 kilometers are typically carried out by American and Russian forces using cruise missiles and bombers. Israel, however, has allocated significant portions of its US aid to acquiring fighter jets capable of flying two hours each way – ranging from the advanced F-15I squadron to four F-16I Sufa squadrons.
Lockheed Martin developed conformal fuel tanks specifically for these jets, enhancing their range without significantly affecting aerodynamics or radar signature.
Foreign reports indicate that Israel has developed detachable fuel tanks for F-35 jets, enabling them to reach Iran while maintaining stealth capabilities. Without these, their range is insufficient, and standard under-wing tanks compromise much of their stealth.
Long-range attack missiles
In the late 2000s, Israel’s defense industries unveiled two long-range attack missiles launched from fighter jets. While details like their precise range remain unclear, it’s known that they have a range of hundreds of kilometers, allowing strikes from outside the range of Iranian defenses. These missiles travel at supersonic speeds, reducing enemy alert times and complicating interception efforts, increasing their chances of hitting the target.
Rampage missile
The Rampage, developed in a collaboration between Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems, is based on Elbit’s EXTRA rocket. Initially designed for ground launch, the Rampage was adapted for air deployment, gaining increased range and speed when launched from jets. It features multiple navigation systems, providing redundancy for accurate targeting.
With a length of 4.7 meters, a diameter of 30.6 cm, and a weight of 570 kg, it carries a 150 kg warhead, making it effective against missile batteries, command centers, and other critical targets. It can be launched from Israel’s F-15, F-16, and F-35 aircraft. Its reliance on existing rocket technology makes it relatively affordable, estimated at a few hundred thousand dollars per unit.
Rocks missile
The Rocks missile, unveiled by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in 2019, combines supersonic cruise capabilities with satellite and inertial navigation, as well as optical targeting. It is based on Rafael’s Anchor missile, which mimics the Iranian Shahab missile in speed and maneuverability for testing purposes.
The Rocks can be launched from smaller F-16 jets and potentially the F-35. Foreign assessments suggest it has a range of 300 km and can carry a 500 kg warhead, making it capable of targeting fortified or underground structures.
Additional developments
Foreign sources indicate that Israel has a surface-to-surface missile system, equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads, known as the Jericho missiles. Despite the hundreds of ballistic missiles Iran has launched towards Israel, the likelihood of Israel using these missiles in a strike appears low. These missiles were initially developed by the French Dassault company, later upgraded by IAI.
Israel maintains a policy of ambiguity regarding its capabilities in this area, often announcing “rocket propulsion tests” during launches from its Palmachim base. However, the 1988 unveiling of the Shavit satellite launcher confirmed Israel’s long-range ballistic capabilities, as any satellite launcher can be adapted for military use. Thus, these missiles are expected to remain off the table for now.
Additionally, Elbit has developed bunker-busting bombs, named 500 MPR, capable of penetrating up to four meters of concrete. These bombs, tested on F-15I jets, have a shorter range, reaching a few dozen kilometers based on the method of deployment.
PopEye Turbo
Another Israeli weapon, known only from foreign reports, is the PopEye Turbo cruise missile, developed by Rafael with a range of 1,500 km. It is designed for launch from Israeli Navy submarines and is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads. This range allows Israeli submarines to strike Iran from the Red Sea or the Arabian Sea without entering the Persian Gulf.
Exporting these advanced munitions to trusted foreign customers allows Israeli companies to reinvest in missile and bomb development, reducing the costs for Israel’s Defense Ministry. It is likely that undisclosed munitions are stored in Israeli Air Force warehouses, waiting for the right moment.
And so it begins… Check out the liveblog below for the latest. Things are happening right now (started about 2 hours ago), not too many details available at present. Apparently only striking military targets, including in Tehran.
Israel has been consulting the US on its retaliation for the salvo of nearly 200 Iranian missiles launched against it this month, narrowing down targets to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its volunteer paramilitary force. There is a third, more indirect, goal: encouraging regime change.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, hinted as much in a video statement, billed as an address to the Iranian people, several days before Iran’s missile attack. The speech in English was perhaps aimed at western countries, and the Iranian opposition, which is based abroad, critics said.
“Don’t let a small group of fanatic theocrats crush your hopes and your dreams … The people of Iran should know – Israel stands with you,” Netanyahu declared.
“When Iran is finally free – and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different.”
Netanyahu hopes that Israel’s future airstrikes will help to weaken the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij paramilitary force, two pillars of the Islamic regime that have been instrumental in putting down mass protests against it.
The IRGC is both an elite military force and a dominant presence in Iran’s economy, while the Basij, a loyalist militia regularly used as foot soldiers, has branches across the country.
“They’re planning to hit them hard,” a western official said this week of Israel’s plan, adding that this could encourage Iran’s opposition.
A realist, Netanyahu would not believe that one wave of airstrikes, or even several, would topple the regime by encouraging a popular uprising.
But some in Israel’s leadership, including the far-right coalition ministers who support harsh action against Iran, believe that this is a defining moment that can change the power balance in a region that feels caught between the US and Israel on the one hand, and Iran and its “axis of resistance” on the other.
That view has been reinforced by the rapid decapitation of Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful asset among the network of proxies and allies it had cultivated for decades to counter Israel.
Firas Maksad, senior fellow with the Middle East Institute think tank, said: “The Biden administration and the Israelis have come to a general understanding that the first stage of Israeli response will be limited to military and the IRGC and Basij, and they will stay away from nuclear and oil facilities. Going after the Basij and IRGC will, some hope, put further strain on the relationship between them and the people.”
Although the US may also not believe that the Islamic regime in Iran could be immediately threatened by a popular revolt, it may have indulged the idea to persuade Israel not to strike nuclear and oil facilities.
The US wants to avoid attacks on these assets for fear of escalation: either Tehran accelerating its enrichment of uranium to create a nuclear bomb, or to lash out against oilfields in the region, driving up prices before next month’s presidential election and giving Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, more fodder for his campaign.
Any attack by Israel is also likely to draw further reaction from Iran. “That needs to be thought of as the first salvo,” Maksad said. “There will be an Iranian response and that will put us past the elections in the US. At that point, Netanyahu will have more flexibility to respond in a more expansive way.”
Israel’s recent successes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, including sabotage attacks that reduced the Shia group’s fighting strength and airstrikes that have killed key figures, including Hassan Nasrallah, its leader, could embolden the hawkish ideologues in Netanyahu’s governing coalition to further expand the war against its arch-enemy.
“I would be surprised if the wider security apparatus are on board for that – it’s an impossibility for Israel to have that level of success,” Sanam Vakil, Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program director, said.
Opponents of Khamenei’s repressive Islamic regime far outweigh its conservative supporters. Turnout in parliamentary elections and a presidential election this year registered record lows and calls for boycotts, two years after the repression of mass protests against the treatment of women.
The trend may point to a growing conviction among Iranians that regime change, and not reform, is required, but few would welcome it at the behest of a foreign power, analysts say. And Iran, feeling threatened, could crack down pre-emptively on any signs of dissent.
Yahya Sinwar spent two decades in Israeli prisons studying the country and trying to identify its weaknesses before emerging to assemble a powerful militia dedicated to toppling it.
Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who was killed by Israeli forces, spent two decades in Israeli prisons studying the country and trying to identify its weaknesses before emerging to assemble a powerful militia dedicated to toppling it.
That mission culminated on Oct. 7 last year, when at his command Hamas led the deadliest attack in Israel’s more than 75-year history. It triggered a war with Israel in Gaza, and now Lebanon, that has upended the Middle East, reignited the Palestinian cause and left more than 40,000 people dead.
Israel vowed to hunt down the wiry and silver-haired Sinwar after the Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people and left 250 people held hostage, and his death fulfills one of Israel’s main goals of the Gaza war. For more than a year, he evaded the Israeli military, hiding in underground tunnels from where he directed Hamas’s war effort. On Thursday, Israeli officials announced his Wednesday death.
“I prefer to be a fighter among the army and soldiers, and I will die as a fighter,” Sinwar told a Palestinian news website in 2011.
Sinwar’s ascension, which took the group in an even more violent direction, followed a years-long internal struggle over how Hamas should achieve its political and military ambitions. A hardliner, Sinwar believed Israeli and Palestinian civilian deaths were necessary to destabilise Israel.
He launched the attacks last year in the hope that Iran and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon would join the fighting. But those allies initially offered only limited help, with Iran-backed Hezbollah firing rockets at Israel in tit-for-tat exchanges that began the day after the Hamas attacks from Gaza. In April, after the death of an Iranian general in Damascus, Iran launched around 300 missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for the killing.
Israel this fall launched an air-and-ground campaign against U.S.-designated terrorist group Hezbollah, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon as it sought to deter attacks into its north. Iran, in response, fired some 200 missiles at Israel, an assault to which Israel has promised to respond. The escalating conflict has left the region on the brink of all-out war.
Sinwar was detained by Israel in 1988, and later told Israeli interrogators that he strangled a suspected Palestinian collaborator, according to a transcript of his confession.
Later convicted, he devoted his time in prison to getting to know Israeli society. He learned Hebrew, watched Israeli news and read books on Jewish history. He was released in 2011 in a prisoner exchange in which Israel gave up more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier.
Sinwar once said that what Israel considers its strength – that most Israelis serve in the army and soldiers hold a special status in society – was a weakness that could be exploited. One of the goals of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks was to capture Israeli soldiers who could be traded for Palestinian prisoners. What became clear later was that Sinwar could also use them as insurance to keep himself alive.
But he ultimately miscalculated how Israel would respond to the unprecedented attacks, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas and dismantle its military. While Israel engaged in talks to free hostages, Netanyahu gave priority to a military campaign against Hamas that eventually led to Sinwar’s killing.
The war has wiped out much of Hamas’s top leadership, including Sinwar, Haniyeh and military commander Mohammed Deif in July.
Netanyahu hasn’t presented a plan for who should govern Gaza after the war. He has ruled out Washington’s proposal that the Palestinian Authority, which runs parts of the West Bank, be put in charge of the enclave.
Some Arab states have pushed for Hamas to retain a role in governing the strip to avert an insurgency by the group’s remaining fighters. Sinwar could be succeeded by his deputy in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, who has represented Hamas in ceasefire negotiations with Israel, or by former Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal.
Sinwar launched the Oct. 7 attacks in part over frustration with the paralysis in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the fading global diplomatic importance of the Palestinian cause. The atrocities in southern Israel and subsequent destruction wrought in Gaza have undoubtedly refocused attention back on the issue.
Sinwar grew up in a refugee camp in Khan Younis in Gaza, the son of refugees who fled what is now Israel during the 1948 war with Arab states. In the 1980s, Sinwar became close to the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and worked with his mentor to hunt Palestinian informants suspected of collaborating with Israel. The internal police force was a forerunner to Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
During a series of interrogations after his 1988 detention and charge, Sinwar explained how he rounded up a suspected Palestinian collaborator with Israel while the man was in bed with his wife, according to a transcript of his confession.
He blindfolded the Palestinian, called Ramsi, and drove him to an area with a freshly dug grave before strangling him with a scarf known as a kaffiyeh, a symbol of the Palestinian cause.
“I was sure that Ramsi knew he deserved to die for what he did,” Sinwar said in his confession.
Sinwar’s reputation as one of the founders of Hamas and as its chief enforcer immediately propelled him through the hierarchy of Hamas prison inmates.
By the mid-1990s, Sinwar was already the most important Hamas prisoner held by Israel, according to Ehud Ya’ari, an Israeli broadcast journalist who interviewed him in prison. “It was not in question at all that he was the guy in charge,” said Ya’ari.
While Sinwar had a reputation as a violent enforcer, he also had a more cerebral, academic side. He hand wrote hundreds of pages of his thoughts and conclusions upon reading Jewish and Zionist history, demonstrating a curiosity about his enemy that stunned Israelis who met him at the time, Ya’ari added.
He also penned a coming-of-age novel about life in Gaza and a nonfiction book about his experience setting up Hamas’s internal police force.
In 2004, he appeared to develop neurological problems, speaking unclearly and struggling with walking. Doctors examined him, finding an abscess in the brain, and rushed him to hospital for surgery. After a successful operation, Sinwar returned to prison and thanked the doctors for saving his life. He also spent hours in conversation with one of his jailers.
Following his exchange in 2011, Sinwar quickly rose through Hamas’s political leadership. He became Hamas’s leader in Gaza in 2017 and for a time signalled to Israel that he was seeking a long-term quiet in the conflict between the militants and the Israeli military.
“The truth is that a new war is in no one’s interest,” Sinwar told an Italian journalist writing in 2018 in an Israeli daily.
But he became increasingly frustrated with Hamas’s diplomatic isolation, and began to deepen relations with Israel’s arch-enemy Iran and its proxy Hezbollah.
In the months leading up to Oct. 7, the anti-Israel allies discussed ways that they could attack their joint enemy. But while Iran’s proxies have attacked Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East since the start of the war in Gaza, Tehran and its allies have for the most part avoided an all-out escalation, a decision that frustrated Sinwar.
Once the war began, Sinwar knew that success for Hamas would depend on him surviving and outlasting Israel, forcing a permanent ceasefire that would leave Hamas intact.
For a time, Sinwar believed that he might emerge victorious. His messages to his Hamas colleagues and ceasefire mediators became increasingly confident, even grandiose, according to Arab ceasefire mediators. During negotiations for a temporary pause in fighting earlier in the war, he urged Hamas’s political leadership outside Gaza not to make concessions and to push for a permanent end to the war.
Sinwar believed high civilian casualties in Gaza would create worldwide pressure on Israel to stop the war, according to messages he sent to mediators. But even as the U.S. repeatedly pushed the two sides to agree to a ceasefire, Israel proposed conditions that would likely have led to Hamas’s demise, and Sinwar dug in.
At the end of July, Israel assassinated Haniyeh in Tehran, and Sinwar was officially elevated to run the broader group, his de facto role since the war began.
In September, Hamas raised the stakes, suggesting it had killed six high-profile hostages, including an Israeli-American, amid Israeli military pressure in Gaza. The group threatened to kill more hostages if Israel tried to rescue others, illustrating how much pressure Sinwar was under. The hostages were a valuable bargaining chip to force a ceasefire, but he was also willing to kill some of them as leverage over Israel’s government to force a deal.
Ultimately, Israel’s intelligence and military capabilities proved too much for Sinwar.
In a message to Hezbollah before he was killed, the Hamas leader thanked the Shia militant group for its support and invoked a 7th-century battle in Karbala, Iraq, where the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad was slain, causing a schism in Islam.
“We have to move forward on the same path we started,” Sinwar wrote to Hezbollah. “Or let it be a new Karbala.”
For more than a year, Israeli soldiers scoured the scorched earth of Gaza in search of Yahya Sinwar, who was thought to be hiding in a vast tunnel network. Then, by pure chance, they found him.
For more than a year, Israeli soldiers scoured the scorched earth of Gaza in search of the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, who was thought to be hiding in a vast tunnel network. Then, by chance, they found him.
Late on Wednesday in the southern city of Rafah, trainee Israeli troops from the 828th Battalion, a mixture of novice soldiers and reservists, spotted three suspicious figures moving “home to home on the run”, the military said.
The soldiers fired on the group, apparently wounding one of them, who fled alone into a building. They sent in a small drone in pursuit, and through its camera saw a figure sitting among debris, his face covered by a scarf, who hurled a stick at it in defiance.
Deciding it was too dangerous to enter, they called in tank fire instead. The building was hit by two 120mm shells, with shrapnel scything across the upper floors.
When the trainee soldiers piloted a drone back into the wreckage, they discovered something remarkable.
Entombed in the rubble was a body. The head was partially shattered, the face covered in ash, but the corpse was instantly recognisable: it was Israel’s No 1 enemy. His lips slightly parted in death, Sinwar, 61, was given away by his distinctive ears.
Even though it looked exactly like him, it seemed scarcely believable that the troops would stumble across the leader of Hamas in the middle of a city repeatedly cleared by the Israel Defence Forces over months of heavy fighting. Soldiers from the 450th infantry battalion were ordered to storm the building for a closer look.
Wearing gloves to protect the forensic evidence, they took pictures of the corpse, wearing combat fatigues, and sent them to the Israeli police. Specifically, they needed to get images of his yellowing teeth.
Using a wooden stick, they pushed back the man’s upper lip to reveal an identifiable gap between his front incisors. Investigators had the Hamas leader’s DNA from the 22 years he spent in Israeli jails. “We had Sinwar’s dental data on file, and the match was clear,” Aliza Raziel, head of the police’s Forensic Identification Division, said, describing it as “one of the most significant moments this year”.
The seismic discovery was quickly communicated up the chain of command until, in the skies above Israel, two of its most senior security officials held an impromptu meeting in a military helicopter to assess the information. Examining classified documents spread out on a makeshift table, Herzi Halevi, Israel’s top general, and Ronen Bar, head of Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence agency, pored over the details of Sinwar’s apparent assassination.
At the same time, grisly photos of Sinwar’s corpse were leaked online, forcing the IDF to issue a statement. By this stage they were confident enough to assert with a “high” degree of confidence that Sinwar was dead. Four hours later, the military issued a simple message on social media: “Eliminated: Yahya Sinwar.”
Unlike the planned assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, in Beirut last month, it appears that Sinwar’s demise owed much more to luck than design. Releasing drone footage of Sinwar’s last moments, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman, confirmed the soldiers “identified him as a terrorist in a building” but did not know who it was.
“We fired on the building and went in to search. We found him with a flak jacket and a gun and 40,000 shekels [pounds 8,200],” he added.
Sinwar began terrorising the people of Gaza in the 1980s, when as head of the al-Majd, the morality police of Hamas, he was responsible for murdering suspected Palestinian collaborators and torturing those accused of supposed sins such as homosexuality or indulging in vices such as alcohol, drugs and fornication.
As rumours spread in Gaza of his demise, Palestinians expressed tentative hope that his death would mark the beginning of the end of the war, after another bloody day in which 28 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Jabalia in the north.
Displaced from his home, Osama al-Kafarna, 43, now living in Khan Yunis, blamed both Sinwar for starting the war and Israel for its retributive, year-long campaign that has left more than 42,000 dead, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
“Israel has always accused Sinwar of being the one who obstructs the deal, but now after his death we hope that we will not hear more lies from Israel and the war will end as soon as possible,” he said.
For Israelis and Palestinians alike, Sinwar’s death is a decisive moment. At least 97 hostages remain unaccounted for, 33 of whom are believed to be dead. And it remains unclear how Israel intends to quash the radical Sunni ideology that fuels Hamas.
“We’ve closed the account with the arch murderer Sinwar,” said Einav Zangauker, the mother of the hostage Matan Zangauker and one of the most vocal campaigners for a ceasefire, in a video statement. “But now, more than ever, the lives of my son Matan and the other hostages are in tangible danger.”
Israel had claimed that Sinwar had been hiding in tunnels under Gaza, using hostages as human shields. Hagari said he had been “running away” before he died but Hamas will try to paint him as a martyr, defiant to the last.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, addressed the nation in a speech intended to capture the history of the moment. “Evil has been delivered a blow,” he said, before adding: “But our task is not yet complete.”
Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East.
The leadership of Iran, which used to be good at chess, made a terrible mistake this evening.
We must act *now* to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to…
— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) October 1, 2024
Never before in its brief modern history has Israel been in the position to deal decisively with its arch-nemesis, the IRGC. Hamas is in tatters, unable to sustain any real response of any description.
The cleverness of the Mossad never ceases to amaze me…
Disclosing details of alleged Mossad operation, sources tell Washington Post detonation signal was an encrypted message that required double-button press to reveal contents
The signal that detonated thousands of Hezbollah pagers last month was an encrypted message that required users to hold the devices with both hands, maximizing the chances of causing debilitating injuries, sources said in a Saturday report.
An alleged Israeli operation blew up pagers and walkie-talkies used by the Lebanese terror group on September 17 and 18, kicking off an ongoing series of Israeli airstrikes that have dealt immense blows to Hezbollah, including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Israeli, US, and Middle Eastern officials estimate that up to 3,000 Hezbollah members were killed or injured by the pagers, as well as an unknown number of civilians, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.
The Post report — which cited Israeli, Arab, and American security officials, politicians and diplomats, as well as Lebanese sources close to Hezbollah, all of them anonymous — said the pagers were made in Israel and conceived by the Mossad spy agency.
After Mossad officials revealed the capability to elected officials on September 12 and the operation was allegedly okayed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, thousands of Hezbollah operatives got a message telling them they had received an encrypted message that required pressing two buttons — effectively forcing them to use both hands, and to be injured in both hands when the blasts occurred as they pushed the buttons.
“You had to push two buttons to read the message,” one official explained, so that the blast would likely “wound both their hands,” rendering the user “incapable to fight.”
The report also revealed that hundreds of booby-trapped walkie-talkies — which were detonated a day later — had been used by Hezbollah since 2015, providing Israel continued real-time access into the terror group’s communications for many years before the devices were weaponized in a more literal way.
Hezbollah had purchased pagers to avoid Israeli communications surveillance. Earlier this year, a sales pitch convinced the group to buy large-battery AR924 pagers from Apollo, a known Taiwanese brand.
The contact came from a woman who had in the past been a Middle East sales agent for Apollo and who was trusted by Hezbollah. Officials declined to reveal her identity. According to the Washington Post report, she had set up her own company to sell pagers under the Apollo brand.
Previous media reports tracked down a woman called Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, the CEO of Budapest-based BAC Consulting, which the Taiwanese trademark holder of the pagers said was responsible for manufacturing the devices.
Among the touted advantages of the pagers was their waterproof design and a large battery that enabled months of use without charging.
The terror group bought 5,000 devices and manufacture was outsourced. Unknown to Hezbollah — and apparently Apollo and the saleswoman — they were assembled in Israel with a small amount of explosive added to each battery.
The pagers were eventually distributed to what the report described as Hezbollah’s “mid-level fighters and support personnel” in February.
The tiny explosives in the pagers and the walkie-talkies were concealed in a way that taking apart the device — or even X-raying it — could not reveal the danger to Hezbollah members, who readily embraced the Israeli-designed and -manufactured gadgets, sources told the Post. Israeli officials assess that some of the devices did in fact undergo such examinations, the report said.
The existence of the pager setup was only revealed to senior Israeli cabinet members on September 12, when Netanyahu held a meeting with security advisers about dealing with Hezbollah, the Israeli officials said.
US officials said that Washington was not told about the pagers or the discussions about exploding them.
Alongside using the pagers, Israeli officials also discussed targeting Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, whose movements and location Israel had known for years despite his furtive lifestyle, officials said.
Killing Nasrallah was expected to lead to an open war with Hezbollah and, possibly, Iran. In addition, the US had been pushing Nasrallah to agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon that would satisfy Israel’s demand that Hezbollah withdraw its fighters from border areas.
US and Middle Eastern officials said that while Israel had supported the US plan, Nasrallah refused, insisting that a halt in the fighting only come after a ceasefire in Gaza.
On September 17, the signal was sent to detonate the pagers and a message in Arabic appeared on their screens reading, “You received an encrypted message.”
When the operators pressed the two required buttons to read the message, the pagers exploded. Less than 60 seconds later, the Post reported, thousands of other pagers also exploded even without the pair of buttons being used.
The following day, hundreds of Hezbollah walkie-talkies also exploded, causing deaths and injuries.
Nasrallah was killed on September 27 in a massive attack on his Beirut bunker.
The fighting with Hezbollah began when the Iran-backed terror group started to launch cross-border rocket and drone fire last October 8, one day after Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that opened the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah has since carried out near-daily attacks in support of Hamas.
The fighting has also drawn in direct rocket barrages from Iran. Last week the Islamic Republic fired around 200 rockets at Israel, causing some damage, though most were either intercepted or hit open areas.
One of the apparent targets of the barrage was Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv.
Ben Artzi pointed to a series of impending disasters as divine punishment for nations that oppose Israel. “Their countries will be destroyed by floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and fire.”
A mystical rabbi has warned that nations and leaders seeking to harm Israel will face divine retribution, with floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters signaling the beginning of the prophesied Gog and Magog war and the imminent arrival of the Messiah.
In a YouTube video released on Tuesday, Israeli Kabbalah Rabbi Nir Ben Artzi delivered a fiery message aimed at those who he claims are trying to disrupt the people and state of Israel. “The Master of the Universe will destroy these nations,” he proclaimed, warning that leaders who target the Israel Defense Forces, harm Israeli citizens, or desecrate the Holy Land will be met with catastrophic consequences. “Even now, He is destroying them. The entire world is in chaos, as foretold in Gog and Magog.”
Ben Artzi pointed to a series of impending disasters as divine punishment for nations that oppose Israel. “Their countries will be destroyed by floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fire and brimstone, and severe winds. The presidents and heads of these countries will perish; they will not live,” he said, adding that their downfall will be witnessed by all through media coverage. “This is the beginning of the revelation of the Messiah so that they will no longer disturb Israel.”
Artzi’s prominence in the country
Ben Artzi is a well-known figure in Israel’s spiritual and mystical community, gaining prominence through his prophetic messages and teachings that blend Kabbalistic mysticism with interpretations of modern-day events. His sermons often focus on the role of Israel in global affairs and frequently touch on apocalyptic themes. Over the years, he has amassed a significant following while also attracting criticism for his controversial predictions and outspoken style.
He emphasized that the current global turmoil is not coincidental but rather part of a divine plan to protect Israel. “You don’t know it yet, but the whole world that opposes the State of Israel will face a flood,” Ben Artzi warned. “The destruction of nations is already unfolding, and it will only intensify.”
His latest remarks have sparked debate among some viewers, though Ben Artzi’s followers have rallied behind his statements, believing them to be a sign of divine protection for Israel. “From now on, the presidents and leaders of these countries will die,” he said, referring to those who have sought to undermine Israel. “This marks the start of a new era, one that will see the emergence of the Messiah.”
WarSclerotic 
Recent Comments