Before thousands of pagers blew up in Lebanon on Tuesday, Israel informed the US that it was preparing an operation in the country but didn’t say what it was, CNN reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The sources said that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conveyed the message to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin early Tuesday, but due to the lack of detail, the US was left in the dark about what was about to transpire.
Austin and Gallant spoke again later that day after the pagers exploded, but it’s unclear what was said in that conversation.
The White House has insisted it was unaware of the Israeli plan to blow up pagers, which was followed by the detonation of walkie-talkies the following day. The Biden administration has barely commented on the Israeli terrorist attack, which killed at least two children, saying that it still needs to “gather information.”
But US officials were quick to share the details of the plot with The New York Times on the same day the pagers were detonated. US officials speaking to the paper were the first to confirm that Israel intercepted the pager shipment to Lebanon and packed the devices with explosives and a detonator switch.
There’s no indication that the attack will impact US military support for Israel, even though the US was reportedly warning Israel against escalating in Lebanon a day before the pagers were detonated.
The US has vowed to defend Israel if the situation in the Middle East turns into a full-blown regional war. In April, the US directly intervened to intercept Iranian missiles and drones that were fired at Israel in response to the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
