
A., a former department chief in the Mossad, spoke on Monday with Kan Reshet Bet and revealed more information on the pager attack that led to the elimination of at least 50 senior Hezbollah terrorists and maimed thousands of others, following the CBS 60 Minutes interview with Mossad agents.
A. was asked about the decision to use pagers, which are antiquated but considered trustworthy compared to other devices.
"That's one of the risks of the operation, like every operation," he stated. "I think there are three archetypes in the world who still use this technology, and Hezbollah and the Mossad are among them. When people stopped using the devices, we know that those who are left are the most criminal people - Hezbollah operatives."
A. added that the operation went into action after a decade of planning, as reported in the past, at a time that ultimately turned out to be successful. "This was a decade. It's an operation that takes a lot of time, both for the idea to mature, to build a connection with the 'customer,' the technological process, and to maintain the enemy's situation without it getting suspicious," he noted.
"The operation revolutionized the northern arena. It started with Hezbollah, moved to Syria, until Iran and opening the path to the Shi'ite axis," A. emphasized.
According to A., another thing that made the operation special was the target - to reach the operatives. As opposed to other major operations which mostly targeted military targets such as tunnels, launchers, missiles, and leaders who were in hiding, this time the aim was to reach them - as many of them as possible.
"That was the big change in this war. There are fewer operatives than missiles, fewer operatives than launchers - this is a bottleneck that was damaged," he concluded.