The program will discuss previously unreleased information about the operation that was years in the making.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Former Mossad agents who were involved in the “exploding beeper” operation that devastated Hezbollah several months ago will reveal secrets of the mission for the first time on ABC’s 60 Minutes on Sunday.
The program will discuss previously unreleased information about the operation that was years in the making.
On September 17, thousands of pagers issued by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to its operatives exploded simultaneously.
It was reported that 12 terrorists had been killed by the beepers and thousands injured.
A former commander of British military forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, praised the beeper offensive against Hezbollah as “precise and discriminatory” and effective at weakening the morale and capacity of the Lebanese terror group.
Israel’s outsmarting them with this terror attack has led to Hezbollah’s “demoralization.”
Kemp also praised the mission because it effectively targeted only terrorists and limited civilian casualties.
“It’s hard to think of a more precise and discriminating method of attack than detonating pagers known to be specifically assigned to individual terrorists, using devices that limit the potential for collateral damage.”
He added that the exploding beepers were intended only for terrorists who are “legitimate and lawful targets for attack as Israel seeks to defend its citizens from violent aggression,” he said.
Kemp added that three distinctive characteristics of the mission made it particularly effective.
First, the mission resulted in extensive damage to Hezbollah, second it engendered anxiety in Hezbollah members and may discourage others from joining and third, it has humiliated Hezbollah on the world stage.
The now-deceased leader of Hezbollah at the time, Hassan Nasrallah, declared the exploding beepers were an “act of war.”
Nasrallah said, “We undoubtedly suffered a major security and humanitarian blow, unprecedented in the conflict and maybe in the history of mankind.”
Nasrallah added, “We were hit hard, but that’s the situation in war. We understand that the enemy has technological supremacy. Especially since the we and the West support it.”