The mysterious trail of Hezbollah’s exploding pagers

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The puzzle of how thousands of pagers were sabotaged in an Israeli attack on Hezbollah this past week has sparked investigations into the supply chain behind them, leading investigators to a labyrinth of shadowy companies and individuals spanning Asia and Eastern Europe. The search for who was behind the manufacturing, sale and distribution of the pagers has pointed to some companies that were created in recent years, with little to no paper trail of their activities and run by mysterious business people with a vague online footprint and little experience in the telecommunications industry.

For decades, Iran and the militant groups it supports, such as Hezbollah, have used shell companies across the Middle East and Mediterranean to obtain funds and equipment while evading sanctions. Israel has in turn created its own shadowy networks to infiltrate the supply chains used by Iran and the militant groups it backs. Tuesday’s attack is one of a handful of examples in which Israel has likely penetrated Hezbollah’s communications supply chain, said a person familiar with Israeli operations abroad.

“But it’s the first time it ended with a bang like this," he said. People briefed on the operation said Israel breached Hezbollah’s supply chain and laced the batteries of the devices with explosives. The devices were then detonated remotely.

Hezbollah has begun an investigation into the supply-chain breach. The pager trail started in Taiwan this past week, after a label on one of the devices that exploded in Lebanon indicated it had been made by Gold Apollo, a Taiwan company. After reporters descended on the company’s offices in the hours after the attack, the company said it hadn’t made the