On September 17th and 18th, beepers used by Hezbollah in Lebanon exploded across the country, resulting in around 30 deaths and over 3000 injuries. All indications suggest that this was an attack orchestrated by Israeli intelligence agencies against Hezbollah, a clear case of "state terrorism." How did Israel pull this off?

1. Beepers in Use: Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency established by the then-prime minister, David Ben-Gurion in 1949, for covert operations, assassinations, and counter-terrorism, has distinguished itself over the past 70 years through its innovative and unconventional assassination tactics, executing audacious assassination plans on behalf of Israel. Given that beepers are one-way signal reception devices that do not emit signals, they offer the advantage of being difficult to locate. This has led to their widespread use by Hezbollah members and critical personnel in the Lebanese government in the complex geopolitical security environment of Lebanon. According to online sources, Hezbollah purchased over 3000 beepers from Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based company, distributing them among its members across Lebanon, as well as its allies in Iran and Syria.

2. Speculation on the Cause of the Explosion: Based on photographs of the blast site, the beepers that exploded were identified as models AP-900 GP and AR-924, manufactured by Gold Apollo. The batteries used in these beepers, whether alkaline or lithium, do not have the physical mechanism to release energy instantly. Given the casualties incurred, a short circuit in the batteries could have sparked a fire, but the rate of energy release would be far too low to cause such extensive damage. It is certain that the explosion was caused by high explosives. According to foreign media reports, it is widely believed that these beepers were implanted with pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), which was remotely detonated.
   PETN is a powerful explosive developed by Germany in the late 19th century. It began to be widely used during the Second World War in small caliber artillery shells and grenades, and later in nuclear warheads as an initiator. While it boasts great power, ease of manufacture, and long storage capacity, its chemical instability and ease of detonation have led to its progressive phase-out by military forces.

3. How to Place Explosives: There are two possibilities. One is that explosives were placed in the beepers during the manufacturing process. Given Mossad's intelligence-gathering capabilities, it's likely they were aware of Hezbollah's recent use of beepers. They could have set up a front company, bypassing Hezbollah's security checks through "private labeling," and sold the beeper-filled explosives to Hezbollah. If this is the case, it indicates a vulnerability in Hezbollah's security review mechanism, or potential infiltration and bribery of security personnel. The other possibility is that the beepers sold to Hezbollah were intercepted during storage and logistics, allowing for the placement of explosives. Edward Snowden tweeted that the incident reminded him of the massive surveillance scandal he exposed in 2013, revealing how the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) intercepted computer network equipment at airports destined for target countries, installed implants, then re-packaged and sent them to their targets to infiltrate their networks. Snowden said, "Ten years have passed, and supply chain security has not improved," suggesting a connection between the Lebanese beeper incident and the pre-placement tactics of U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies in the supply chain.