Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a speech from an unknown location, Nov. 20, 2024, in this still image from video. Photo: REUTERS TV/Al Manar TV via REUTERS.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem admitted that the Lebanese terror group severely underestimated the extent of Israel’s surveillance and intelligence capabilities ahead of last September’s pager attack, exposing major security failures within its ranks.

In an interview released Tuesday with the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah, Qassem revealed that Hezbollah had failed to grasp just how advanced and far-reaching Israel’s surveillance capabilities were.

He explained the group suspected possible wiretapping but “did not realize the extent — that it was near-total and very extensive.”

Even though Hezbollah knew Israel had been conducting aerial surveillance for years, Qassem — who succeeded longtime terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah after Israel killed him last year — said that the group “couldn’t grasp how deep” the surveillance extended.

However, he denied any significant infiltration of Israeli spies within Hezbollah’s senior ranks, stating that no evidence has yet been found of “vast human infiltration.”

Last fall, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive following the group’s attacks on Jerusalem — which they claimed were a show of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas amid the war in Gaza.

The pager attack marked the opening strike of Israel’s military campaign against the Iran-backed terror group, seriously injuring thousands of Hezbollah members when the communication devices they relied on detonated.

In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.

Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.

However, Israel maintained troops at several posts in southern Lebanon beyond the ceasefire deadline, as its leaders aimed to reassure northern residents that it was safe to return home.

Jerusalem has continued carrying out strikes targeting remaining Hezbollah activity, with Israeli leaders accusing the group of maintaining combat infrastructure — including rocket launchers — calling this “blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

In his Tuesday interview, Qassem revealed that an investigation conducted after the pager operation uncovered significant weaknesses in Hezbollah’s procurement process stretching back over a year.

“We didn’t know the supply chain had been exposed,” the terrorist leader said.

However, he said the terror group suspected something was wrong with the pagers in the days leading up to the attacks and suggested that their efforts to investigate may have prompted Israel to detonate them earlier than planned.

“There were efforts to examine the pager differently, including attempts to break it open, prompted by some anomalies that raised questions,” Qassem said.

When asked about international pressure to disarm and recent Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Qassem warned that “resistance will not wait forever. There are limits.”

“There is no third option between victory and martyrdom. We do not have surrender as an option,” the terrorist leader said.