Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said the shell company created in Hungary to supply the pagers that exploded in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah operatives two ago, was “a masterstroke by Israel” in military planning for a war.
In an exclusive interview with Firstpost Managing Editor Palki Sharma at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue in New Delhi, the Army chief said, “The pager that you’re talking about, it’s a Taiwan company [product] being supplied to a Hungarian company; the Hungarian company thereafter giving it to them.”
“The shell company which had been created is something which is a masterstroke by the Israelis,” he said.
“And for that, it requires years and years of preparation. So it means they were prepared for it. The war does not start the way you start fighting. It starts the day you start planning. And this is what is most important,” he said.
Does India also face such a security challenge? The Indian Army chief said the supply chain interruption and interception is something India has to be very watchful of. He said, “We have to have various levels of inspection whether it is at the technological level as well as manual level to make sure such things do not get repeated in our case.”
In a series of device attacks targeting Hezbollah, Israel carried out a massive strike in Lebanon on September 17 and 18. Pagers exploded on September 17, walkie talkies went off the next day.
Thousands of explosions resulted in the death of at least 37 people, including children, and injured nearly 3,000. Lebanese health authorities said many of the injured were civilian bystanders.
Reports suggest that Israel targeted Hezbollah by concealing explosives inside the batteries of pagers that were brought into Lebanon from Hungary. Explosives were reportedly concealed using technology that was so advanced that it was virtually undetectable, a report by CNN quoting security officials said.
Multiple countries involved in the supply chain are probing how pagers were weaponised. There is still some confusion about who manufactured the wireless communication devices, how and where the explosives were planted in them, and how they made their way into the hands and pockets of Hezbollah operatives.
Link to article –
