Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon, but 12 current and former defence and intelligence officials who were briefed on the attack say Israelis were behind it, describing the operation as complex and long in the making while speaking to NYT on condition of anonymity.
The booby-trapped devices were the latest salvo in the decades-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, based in Lebanon.This is the story of how Israel pulled off one of the most high-tech attacks in recent times.
Iran-backed groups like Hezbollah have long been vulnerable to Israeli attacks using sophisticated tech. As Israel picked off senior Hezbollah commandos with targeted assassinations, their leader came to a conclusion: If Israel was going high-tech, Hezbollah would go low.