Hezbollah pager explosions latest: Israel spy agency ‘planted explosives months before attack’

Israel ’s spy agency Mossad planted explosives in thousands of pagers used by militia group Hezbollah months before they exploded, Lebanese security sources claimed.

Nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 were wounded after the handheld devices simultaneously detonated across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday.

The same source claimed the beepers - believed to have been made by a Hungarian company with a licence to use Taiwan-based Gold Apollo’s brand - were modified “ at the production level ”.

A second security source claimed up to 3g of explosives were hidden in the devices that went “undetected” by Hezbollah for months.

The Iran -backed militant group has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.

Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon, forms part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance”, which opposes Western and Israeli influence in the region.

The group opened a second front against Israel a day after the war in the Gaza Strip began, triggered by a Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October.