Israel developed the plan to remotely detonate thousands of Hezbollah pagers months ago but was forced to activate the plan on Tuesday after two Hezbollah members grew suspicious, various media outlets reported.

Axios quoted a US official as saying: “It was a use it or lose it moment.”

Israel planned on using the operation as the first blow in an all-out war to try to disable Hezbollah. But when Israel received intelligence that two Hezbollah members had expressed suspicion about the pagers, they decided to execute the plan rather than lose the opportunity altogether.

Israeli officials did not inform the US about the plan, not even telling US envoy Amos Hochstein about it, who was in Israel to discuss the security situation with Hezbollah.

In order not to keep the US completely in the dark, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin moments before the explosions began and said that Israel was about to carry out an operation in Lebanon. However, he refused to provide any details.

The pagers that blew up bore the trademark of the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. However, the company stated on Wednesday that the pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Budapest, Hungary.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)