Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Sunday that Israel launched the pager operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon earlier than initially planned after intelligence had learned that three communications devices had been sent from Lebanon to Iran for analysis.

Speaking at the Jewish News Syndicate conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israeli intelligence discovered in mid-September that Hezbollah had dispatched three pagers to Iran for scanning, raising alarms within the Israeli security establishment.

“They told me it would take Iran a day to scan them,” he said. “I told them: we need to act now.”

The military campaign, which had been initially slated for October, was fast-tracked by three weeks.

“We launched the operation in Lebanon earlier than scheduled, even though the army still needed time to fully prepare,” Netanyahu said. “I told them to prepare for war immediately.”

According to the prime minister, Israel considered several options, including waiting to assess the threat, launching a broader offensive, or combining multiple approaches. He also dismissed what he described as a far-fetched proposal which he claimed involved a full-scale takeover of Lebanon, including the capital Beirut.

Instead, Netanyahu opted for what he called a more targeted strategy: striking Hezbollah’s ballistic missile stockpiles that had been amassed over years and stored in civilian homes.

“Within six to seven hours, we destroyed the bulk of the weaponry Nasrallah had been accumulating for three decades,” he said. “Nasrallah was counting on the fact that we wouldn’t hit residential homes, and he was right. But this time, we did.”

Netanyahu further revealed that just moments after delivering his address to the United Nations back in September 2024, his military aide handed him a note with the word “executed," confirming the operation’s success.

“Taking out Nasrallah disrupted the entire axis,” he said, referring to the Iran-backed alliance of Hezbollah and other regional militias. “Some people can’t be replaced, and so far, he hasn’t been.”

The Israeli leader also said he had debated whether to inform the United States in advance but ultimately chose not to.