VLADIMIR Putin will be furious he didn’t conjure up an Israeli-style sabotage strike first, a former spymaster has said.
The Russian dictator’s forces have employed sabotage in their war against Ukraine and it’s feared they could now look to copy the mass Israeli strike.
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His goons have assassinated enemies using perfume bottles and tried to make other deaths look like suicide.
And one expert told The Sun the tyrant could be eyeing up exactly what made Israel’s attack so shocking – its size.
Israel reportedly bugged a stunning 5,000 pagers and walkie-talkies with a small amount of the explosive PETN.
Former intelligence officer Philip Ingram said: “He [Putin] uses novel methods of assassinating people, and you know he’s probably sitting there with with his design team saying, ‘Why have you not got me exploding pagers beforehand?'”
He said the Russian dictator has used “unusual methods of dealing with people” in the past in the way he targets individuals.
Ingram said: “We saw that with the Novichok attack in 2018, we saw that with the use of polonium 210 on the streets of London.”
Now it’s feared the Russian dictator could be eyeing up executing a similar high volume-style sabotage attack.
Ingram said: “There’s there’s not many opportunities will come where you’re going to get a mass use of the same thing, coming through the same supply chain at the same time.”
But, he said, counter-intelligence officers around the world will be analysing Israel’s attack preparing defences.
“They will be examining different tenders that have gone out for different pieces of equipment, looking at the supply chains that are coming through, they’re making an assessment against those supply chains as to the potential for things to be interfered with,” Ingram said.
“It will just redouble people’s efforts into making sure that they are crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s properly whenever they’re looking at this.”
Ingram has also raised fears that terror groups could use the tactic, albeit on a smaller scale.
He said there could be “panic around the world” with airports and planes now more vulnerable than before.
Ingram said: “Governments will be asking their airports and other places if their X-Ray machines and other scanning machines if they could pick up these things [explosives].”
Russia’s sabotage campaign linked to the invasion of Ukraine had spread across Europe and even reached London.
A Brit “Russian spy” was charged in April with masterminding an arson attack on British soil in a plot allegedly led by the Wagner Group.
Another way the tyrant could try and affect a high number of people through an attack is by hitting sensitive infrastructure.
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British historian Anthony Glees told The Sun Putin could look to emulate the Israeli attack by targeting Western communication links.
As Israel targeted pagers that Hezbollah relied on, the Russians could take out undersea cables that provide internet.
He said: “But I think what could happen is that the lines of communication that we use to communicate in cyberspace.
“They could be targeted and destroyed with ease.”
Glees said a massive cyber attack could even initiate a general war if the cables were important enough.
“They are very, very vulnerable to hostile attack; just like no one ever thought the internet could be used for evil purposes, so no one ever thought these cables could be a target.
“There are countless ways he could disrupt our way of life short of exploding all the cables, using cyber.
“How many days could any of us exist if our debit cards stopped working?”
Experts have been left shocked by the number of affected devices and the complex operation Israeli spies conducted to sabotage them.
The shock attack left at least 37 dead and 3,600 wounded – and sent tensions skyrocketing.
Lebanon has warned of a “doomsday scenario” as Israeli troops ready to invade the country.
Israeli officials declared the start of a “new phase” of the war just days ago and a crack army unit was moved north.
Rami Mortada, Lebanon’s ambassador to the UK, warned Hezbollah was a “formidable fighting force” and claimed Israel should be wary of another inconclusive war like in 2006.
Where did the pagers come from?
By James Halpin, Foreign News Reporter
Iranian proxy Hezbollah ordered the pagers months ago but never thought the quaint piece of tech could be tampered with.
Hezbollah shifted to pagers after the group’s leader told members to stop using phones in February over fears they could be tracked by Israeli spies.
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 the specific order was manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT in Budapest.
Gold Apollo boss Hsu Ching-kuang said BAC asked to manufacture their own pagers with the company’s trademark and 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.”
At some point during the manufacture, the devices were modified by Israel’s spy service with a small amount of explosive.
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.
Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies and harder for Israel to hack digitally.
Reports now claim Mossad set up shell companies to build the devices themselves.
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.
Pagers sent to Hezbollah, however, contained the explosive PETN.
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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