ISRAEL launched the most elaborate attack in modern warfare with Trojan horse technology built by fake Mossad firms, reports say.
The country’s spies put explosives inside shipments of pagers and set off two sabotage strikes injuring thousands and killing 32.
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One man’s bag exploded after a pager detonated while he was shoppingCredit: TELEGRAM/UNPIXS
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Israel hid the explosive PETN inside pagers and were detonated TuesdayCredit: AFP
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Walkie-talkies were used as explosives on WednesdayCredit: X/Rulaelhalabi
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The boss of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo denied they had built the pagersCredit: AFP
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Experts have been left shocked by the number of affected devices and the complex operation spies conducted to sabotage them.
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Reports now claim Mossad set up shell companies to build the devices themselves.
The gadgets were officially manufactured by Hungarian company BAC Consulting, who denied allegations it had built them.
But the New York Times reported BAC is an Israeli shell company, one of at least three used by spies to mask their identity.
BAC took on ordinary clients for whom they produced ordinary pagers.
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Pagers sent to Hezbollah, however, contained the explosive PETN.
The AR-924 pager is described as being “rugged” and contains a rechargeable lithium battery with 85 days of battery life.
Their longevity would be important in Lebanon which has suffered major power outages.
Shipments of the devices to Lebanon started back in 2022.
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But the speed of shipments increased recently after the group’s leadership pushed to stop members using cellphones and use pagers, which the Israelis could compromise.
Hezbollah walkie-talkies explode in people’s hands across Lebanon one day after Israel blows up pagers injuring 1000s
Hezbollah is a “criminal organisation” and uses a number of fronts to buy and sell the weapons and resources the group needs.
These fronts are called ‘monkey firms’ by the Israelis.
Mossad was able to penetrate Hezbollah’s supply chain, possibly with its own ‘monkeys’, and completely fool Hezbollah.
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Former British military intelligence expert Philip Ingram told The Sun that Hezbollah has its own supply chains it relies on.
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The office building of BAC Consulting which was an Israeli front for the sabotageCredit: Reuters
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The son of one Hezbollah member was killed in the blitzCredit: Reuters
He said: “Hezbollah tent to use one or two individuals as businesses to import, export most of their stuff from.”
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Ingram said those people would need to be highly trusted and would most likely be family members of high-ranking members.
“It looks as if that trusted supplier has been compromised.
“It will have had to been planned very carefully indeed. It will have required a large organisation or an organization with a large reach, to be able to get into the supply chain of Hezbollah.”
Compromising Hezbollah’s trusted supplier could have happened in a number of ways, such as paying off a key figure or completely fooling them.
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The Trojan horse strike managed to get explosives near some of the most trusted Hezbollah associates.
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People stand over a crater after Lebanese army soldiers blew up one device
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Thousands of people were injured in the sabotage wave on TuesdayCredit: X
The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon lost an eye after he was struck by an explosion.
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The Japanese manufacturer of the walkie-talkies used in Wednesday’s blasts said it was impossible they were used as they ceased making them a decade ago.
ICOM director Yoshiki Enomoto said: “There’s no way a bomb could have been integrated into one of our devices during manufacturing.
“The process is highly automated and fast-paced, so there’s no time for such things.
“If it’s genuine, we’ll have to trace its distribution to figure out how it ended up there.”
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Where did the pagers come from?
Iranian proxy Hezbollah ordered the pagers months ago but never thought the quaint piece of tech could be tampered with.
A senior Lebanese security source said the group had ordered 5,000 beepers made by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, which were brought into the country in the spring.
But Gold Apollo told media in Taipei Wednesday the specific order was manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT in Budapest.
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Gold Apollo boss Hsu Ching-kuang said BAC asked to manufacture their own pagers with the Taipei company’s trademark.
Hsu said they were paid from a mystery Middle Eastern bank account, NPR reports.
BAC Consulting chief executive Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono confirmed to media that her company worked with Gold Apollo.
But said, “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate.”
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At some point during the manufacture, the devices were modified by Israel’s spy service with a small amount of explosive.
Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies and harder for Israel to hack digitally.
Some reports said the affected pagers were only delivered to Hezbollah recently.
THE British-educated boss of the firm said to have manufactured the pagers denied any knowledge of the bomb plot on Tuesday.
Glamorous Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, who lists “disaster management” as a skill, is listed as the chief executive of Hungarian company BAC Consulting KFT.
She said: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediary. I think you got it wrong.”
Barsony-Arcidiacono, inset, who is in her 40s, lived in Gospel Oak, North London, during 13 years in the UK, studying at various universities.
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The businesswoman speaks seven languages and claims to specialise in resolving “conflict issues”.
She did a PhD in physical sciences at University College London between 2002 and 2006, before a masters in sustainable development for management of natural resources from 2009 to 2014.
She then studied for a diploma in politics at the London School of Economics from 2015 to 2017.
She says she also worked as an evaluation expert at the European Commission.
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On her LinkedIn profile, she describes having “with love devoted myself to science and development”.
She boasts she can “lead/strategise/catalyse environmental, political and development programs of broad scope and complexity”.
She also says she “enjoys working in a multicultural environment where passion, integrity and humour are valued”.
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A building caught fire after the second wave of blasts yesterdayCredit: X/ME_Observer_
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One device blew up inside a home in the city of BaalbekCredit: Getty
A picture of Scarlett Johansson features on the front of Daily Telegraph as she attends the London premiere of film Transformers One which she stars in. The paper leads on Sir Keir Starmer denying he has lost control of Downing Street “despite civil war breaking out at the centre of his government”. It adds tensions in No 10 and questions over chief of staff Sue Gray’s £170,000 salary threaten to overshadow the Labour Party conference.
A funeral in Lebanon is the main picture on the front of the i newspaper. It reports the Middle East is “steps closer to regional war” as Israel bombs southern Lebanon. Armed group Hezbollah was targeted with pager and walkie-talkie attacks. Elsewhere, it says there is a frantic hunt for the mole who leaked Sue Gray’s salary to the BBC.
The Guardian leads with Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah threatening Israel with “tough retribution and just punishment” in a speech on Thursday. He also threatened to strike Israel “where it expects and where it does not”. Hot To Go! singer Chappel Roan also features on the page, telling the paper: “My whole life has changed”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been provided with a £10bn budget boost by the Bank of England which is increasing pressure on her to ease spending cuts and tax rises, the Times writes. The paper says Labour MPs are calling for the cash to be used to delay scrapping some pensioners’ winter fuel payments.
“Al Fayed ‘a serial rapist’” headlines the Metro as it reports on the BBC investigation into late billionaire and Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed. The papers reports the BBC’s investigation found more than 20 female ex-employees say Mr Al Fayed sexually assaulted or raped them. The Metro writes the tycoon who was “portrayed as the gregarious father” of Diana’s lover Dodi in Netflix’s The Crown “was a monster”.
“Shop of horrors” headlines the Mirror as it picks up the BBC’s story on Mr Al Fayed. The Mirror says at least 100 women are feared to have been sexually abused by the tycoon. It quotes Gemma, his former personal assistant. Speaking to the BBC about Mr Al Fayed, who she accuses of raping her, she said: “He felt like such a powerful man with so much money.”
The Daily Express pictures RAF veteran Jack Barlow who says he survived atomic bomb tests but now asks if he will survive the winter due to his winter fuel payment being “snatched away”.
The Financial Times says consumer confidence in the UK fell sharply in September, wiping out progress made so far this year. The paper observes it comes despite consumers benefiting from cheaper loans, rising real wages and a decrease in inflation. Elsewhere, it pictures people in Lebanon watching the leader of Hezbollah give a speech in which he vowed revenge on Israel.
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick has written in the Daily Mail that mass immigration and woke culture have put England’s national identity at risk. He says the ties which bind the nation together are beginning to “fray”. Elsewhere, it reports Mr Starmer is “on the rack” over Ms Gray’s salary and freebies.
The Sun reports Snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan has split from fiancee actress Laila Rouass.
The Daily Star asks “what planet are they on?” It says minister defends “cadger PM’s £100k of freebies” as some pensioners lose the winter fuel payment.
Last week JPMorgan made headlines by announcing it planned to cap its junior bankers’ working week to 80 hours (“High pressure, long days, crushing workloads: why is investment banking like this?”, FT Alphaville, FT.com, September 13).
The media and most western professionals and other workers will see that figure as extraordinarily high — but the small print makes clear that the cap will not apply when junior bankers are working on “live” deals.
The 80-hour working week, it seems, is the routine baseline expectation.
Former investment banker Craig Coben, author of the FT Alphaville piece, outlined the history and factors that make the long-hours culture a seemingly intractable fact of life across the investment banking industry — and other related sectors such as Big Law.
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As investment banking is a bespoke service the work cannot fit into a standard nine-to-five schedule. The question is: does this bespoke service require regular “all-nighters”?
Is this really the most efficient approach? Research shows that working long hours does not improve productivity. Studies document diminishing returns after a certain threshold — typically around 50 hours per week.
Coben also pointed to the mega-salaries junior bankers earn. In the end, there is no such thing as a free lunch in life.
They know what they are getting themselves into. The reality may not be as glamorous as it seems. Assuming an entry salary of £90,000, as indicated in the article, an 80-hour working week for 47 weeks a year — admittedly a very basic calculation — junior bankers would earn a higher hourly rate by doing private tutoring!
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Yes, this is partly down to the nature of the business but it is also a self-perpetuating culture that is blocking efforts to at least mitigate its worst excesses.
Addressing this could, in fact, positively impact productivity as well.
Sonia Falconieri Professor in Corporate Finance, Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), London EC1, UK
“We asked for a thorough investigation,” says Olivia.
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“That’s definitely what they’ve done as it’s been a while now.
“I hope the FA do the right thing.
“It’s important we don’t skim over what happened.”
Regardless of the outcome, the 25-year-old says there’s no way things can stay the same in women’s football.
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“I’d like to think that after what’s happened to my sister, there’s no way there can’t be any change.
“Maddy ultimately lost her life and her spirit to football and it’s important that nobody else goes through that.”
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Before signing with Sheffield United, Maddy previously played for Birmingham, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest
Maddy’s family has launched a foundation in her name to support women and girls in football and hopes to be a voice for them too.
“You can’t bury your head in the sand,” says Olivia.
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“You need to stand up for these girls and stand up for Maddy ultimately as well.
“We just really wanted to find what was missing and give these girls a voice.”
They recently hit a £50,000 milestone, something Olivia says she “never even dreamed of”.
“It made me really proud,” she says.
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“I thought, we could really change the game here and change young girls’ lives.”
‘I’m going to be like Maddy’
Some of the money raised goes towards supporting girls like eight-year-old Neveah, who idolised Maddy.
Neveah’s mum, Beth, tells Newsbeat the love started when she was assigned the same number football shirt.
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“She’d see Maddy play and say, ‘Mum that’s me – I’m number eight, I’m going to be like Maddy’.”
Last year, Neveah was a mascot for Sheffield United and chose to walk out with Maddy, which Beth says helped to “grow her love of football”.
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Neveah would always wear Maddy’s Sheffield United shirt under her kit, her mum Beth says
When Maddy died, Beth says Neveah “took it really hard” and, in December, the foundation offered to pay for her to have new boots – something the family had done for Maddy every Christmas.
Since then it has also sponsored her kit.
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“She was very touched by that,” Beth says.
“We always get in touch with the family because she likes to tell them how many goals she’s scored for Maddy.”
Although Neveah is sometimes the only girl on the pitch, she is generally supported and encouraged in the sport, says Beth.
But she knows that might not always be the case, and that is why the work of the foundation is so important.
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“[Girls] need to know that support is available for them,” she says.
“I just hope Neveah’s journey through football, however long it is, continues to be positive.”
Olivia says her sister was “loved and adored and an inspiration to so many”.
“My main focus with the foundation is to carry that on for as long as I can and to bring her to life for as long as I can as well.”
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There will be a vigil for Maddy later and she will also be remembered at a match between Sheffield United and Derby County – the club Maddy supported – on Saturday.
“She would’ve been there for sure,” Olivia says of her big sister. “With a beaming smile.”
A spokesperson for Sheffield United told Newsbeat they were pleased to mark the anniversary with the match.
“The thoughts of everyone associated with Sheffield United Football Club remain with the Cusack family, as well as Maddy’s friends, colleagues and team-mates,” they added.
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The FA said it would not be appropriate to comment while it was still investigating.
If you’ve been affected by the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via BBC Action Line.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.
No publication has bettered the FT for the coverage of Boeing’s downward and tragic flight path resulting from putting financial engineering (sic) before real engineering. Rereading John Gapper’s piece about the revival of Rolls-Royce’s fortunes (Opinion, September 13) I was surprised to see no words of caution about the possible consequences of too much “squeezing” of a product that must work perfectly throughout its life, and no warning on the potential for a Boeing outcome.
For me, I am always reassured when I look out from a window seat to see the classic black and silver RR logo on the engine housing. Long may this continue.
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