Israel Feared Pager Plot Was About to Be Exposed, Report Says

Israel accelerated an operation to detonate communication devices used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon amid fears the group was about to discover they had been rigged with explosives, according to an Israeli report.

The report offered new details about the years preceding the explosions, with Gallant recounting aspects of the operation’s behind-the-scenes preparations.

Concern that Hezbollah could uncover the explosives prompted Israel to move ahead with the detonations rather than risk the plan being exposed, the report said.

The account casts the timing of the operation as a response to a perceived threat of discovery. The summary did not specify what raised those concerns or how close Hezbollah had come to detecting the plot.