The recent mass pager attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon has drawn attention to Israel’s secretive Unit 8200, the intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces, which, according to a Western security source, was involved in planning the operation.
Israeli officials have remained tight-lipped about the daring intelligence mission that resulted in the deaths of 12 people on Tuesday and injured thousands of Hezbollah operatives. At least one person was killed on Wednesday when hand-held radios used by Hezbollah exploded.
A senior Lebanese security source and another source informed Reuters that Israel’s Mossad spy agency was behind a sophisticated plot to plant a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 pagers ordered by Hezbollah.
One Western security source told Reuters that Unit 8200, a military unit separate from the spy agency, was involved in the initial stages of the operation, which took over a year to plan. The source noted that Unit 8200 played a key role in the technical aspect, testing how to insert explosive material during the manufacturing process.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the matter, and the prime minister’s office, which oversees Mossad, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Yossi Kuperwasser, a former military intelligence official and now research director at the Israel Defense and Security Forum, stated that there was no confirmation of the military intelligence unit’s involvement in the attack. However, he praised the personnel of Unit 8200, describing them as some of the most talented individuals in the Israeli military, serving in a unit central to Israel’s defense capabilities.
“The challenges they are facing are immense, very demanding, and we need the best people to get involved in that,” he said.
People were seen gathering as smoke billowed from a mobile shop in Sidon, Lebanon, on September 18, 2024. The unit and its team of young, hand-picked soldiers develop and operate intelligence-gathering tools, often drawing comparisons to the U.S. National Security Agency.
In a rare public acknowledgment of the unit’s operations, the IDF stated in 2018 that Unit 8200 had helped thwart an Islamic State air attack on a Western country. At the time, they explained that the unit’s activities ranged from intelligence gathering and cyber defense to “technological attacks and strikes.”
Although Israel has never officially confirmed its involvement, Unit 8200 is believed to have been a key player in the Stuxnet attack that disrupted Iranian nuclear centrifuges, as well as several other high-profile international operations.
YOUNG RECRUITS
The unit functions as Israel’s early warning system and, like much of the defense and security establishment, faced criticism for failing to detect Hamas’ assault on southern Israel on October 7. The unit’s commander recently announced his resignation, stating in his letter, as reported by Israeli media, that he had not fulfilled his mission.
Unit 8200 is renowned for its work culture that encourages innovative thinking to solve unprecedented problems. This approach has enabled many of its alumni to contribute significantly to Israel’s high-tech sector and establish some of its leading companies.
“Whether it’s a problem with software weaknesses, mathematics, encryption, or hacking into something … you need to be able to do it independently,” said Avi Shua, an 8200 graduate who co-founded Orca Security, a prominent cloud security company.
The unit experiences high turnover as young recruits continually replace veterans. Kobi Samboursky, another former 8200 member and Managing Partner at Glilot Capital Partners, an early-stage fund focused on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, highlighted the unit’s unique culture: “The most significant thing here is the ‘can-do’ mentality, where everything is possible,” he said.
