Israel 'blew up thousands of Hezbollah pagers early over fears plot would be foiled'

ISRAEL fast-tracked the detonation of thousands of explosive-packed pagers used by Hezbollah after becoming concerned that the plot was about to be foiled, according to reports.

- Nicholas Cecil

Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, was claimed to have planted explosives in 5,000 pagers being used by the Lebanese group, designated a terror organisation by governments including in the US and UK. Nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded, including Iran’s envoy to Lebanon, when around 3,000 of the devices were triggered when a coded message was reportedly sent to them.

Hezbollah was using the pagers after scaling back use of mobile phones as they believed they could be vulnerable to Israeli spy operations.

The pager plot was an unprecedented Hezbollah security failure.

The Iran-backed group has vowed to retaliate with “harsh punishment” against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is due to make an address tomorrow.