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Israel’s spy agency Mossad planted explosives in thousands of pagers used by militia group Hezbollah months before they exploded, Lebanese security sources claimed.
Nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 were wounded after the handheld devices simultaneously detonated across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday.
The same source claimed the beepers - believed to have been made by a Hungarian company with a licence to use Taiwan-based Gold Apollo’s brand - were modified “at the production level”.
A second security source claimed up to 3g of explosives were hidden in the devices that went “undetected” by Hezbollah for months.
The Iran-backed militant group has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.
Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon, forms part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance”, which opposes Western and Israeli influence in the region.
The group opened a second front against Israel a day after the war in the Gaza Strip began, triggered by a Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October.
Key Points
- Mossad ‘planted explosives’ in pagers
- Taiwanese manufacturer denies involvement, points to European distributor
- Hundreds of pagers explode in Lebanon and Syria in deadly attack
- Eight-year-old girl dies in pager explosion
Mapped: Where did the blasts happen?
Alexander Butler18 September 2024 10:00 1726649132Watch: Pager detonates in centre of Lebanese market
IDF says Hezbollah members targeted in airstrikes overnight
The Israeli military said it had attacked a building where a number of Hezbollah members were staying last night.
In a post on X, it said its forces “identified a number of terrorists from the Hezbollah terrorist organization” who were “operating in a military structure” near the southern Lebanon village of Majdal Salem.
“Closing a circle from the air, fighter jets attacked the building where the terrorists were operating,” it continued.
Alexander Butler18 September 2024 09:29 1726647433Mossad ‘planted explosives’ in pagers
Israel’s spy agency Mossad planted explosives in thousands of pagers used by militia group Hezbollah months before they exploded, Lebanese security sources claimed.
Nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 were wounded after the handheld devices simultaneously detonated across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday.
The Lebanese security source said the pagers were from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, but the company said in a statement it did not manufacture the devices.
It said they were made by a company called BAC which has a licence to use its brand, but gave no more details.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.
Gold Apollo says Budapest-based firm behind explosive pagers
Taiwanese company Gold Apollo says it authorised its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria, but they were manufactured by a company based in Budapest.
The pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement by Gold Apollo.
Gold Apollo said the pagers used by the Hezbollah militant group were produced by BAC, which was authorised to use Gold Apollo’s trademark in some regions.
“Regarding the recent media reports about the AR-924 pager, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC,” the Gold Apollo statement read.
“We only provide brand trademark authorisation and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product.”
Namita Singh18 September 2024 07:38 1726640063Taiwanese firm distances itself from Lebanon pager bombing
Taiwanese authorities have found no evidence of Gold Apollo pagers being shipped to Lebanon or the Middle East, a senior Taiwanese security official revealed to CNN.
It comes after officials said the firm’s devices were used in the deadly attack targeting Hezbollah across Lebanon and Syria.
Gold Apollo’s founder and chairperson, Hsu Ching-kuang, said that a European distributor with a contract to use Gold Apollo’s trademark was responsible for manufacturing the pagers used in the attack.
Gold Apollo did ship approximately 260,000 pagers from Taiwan between 2022 and August 2024, but the majority of these were destined for the United States and Australia.
Namita Singh18 September 2024 07:14 1726639618Live view of Israel’s border with Lebanon after Hezbollah pager explosions kill nine and injure thousands
Watch a live view of Israel’s border with Lebanon on Wednesday 18 September after Hezbollah pager explosions killed nine and injured thousands.
Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by the group months before Tuesday’s detonations, a senior Lebanese security source has claimed.
Live view of Israel’s border with Lebanon after Hezbollah pager explosions kill nine
Watch a live view of Israel’s border with Lebanon on Wednesday 18 September after Hezbollah pager explosions killed nine and injured thousands.
Namita Singh18 September 2024 07:06 1726639200Israel has a long history of pulling off complex attacks like the exploding pagers
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government were quick to blame Israel for the nearly simultaneous detonation of hundreds of pagers used by the militant group’s members in an attack Tuesday that killed at least nine people and wounded nearly 3,000 others, according to officials.
Many of those hit were members of militant group Hezbollah, but it wasn’t immediately clear if others also carried the pagers. Among those killed were the son of a prominent Hezbollah politician and an 8-year-old girl, according to Lebanon’s health minister.
The attack came amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was among those injured by the pager explosions.
Read the full article here:
Israel has a long history of pulling off complex attacks like the exploding pagers
Thousands of pagers used members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people and wounding several thousand, officials said
Holly Evans18 September 2024 07:00 1726635600Hezbollah vows to respond after multiple dead and thousands wounded in mass pager explosions
Hezbollah has vowed to respond after nine people were killed and around 2,800 wounded following the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of electronic pagers used by the militia to communicate.
The group claimed the attack, which struck at 3.30pm local time, was perpetrated by Israel, an allegation that Israel refused to address, in keeping with its policy on assaults happening outside of its own territory.
The Lebanese health minister Firas al-Abyad said nine people had been killed, including an eight-year-old girl, after the pagers exploded across Lebanon and in the Syrian capital of Damascus, where Hezbollah have stationed some of its members. Another 2,800 were wounded, the minister said, including 400 who were critically injured.
Read the full story here:
Hezbollah vows to respond after multiple dead and thousands injured as pagers explode
A Hezbollah official said the explosions were the biggest security breach the group had experienced in nearly a year
Holly Evans18 September 2024 06:00 1726634647Taiwanese manufacturer denies involvement, points to European distributor
Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese electronics company, has denied involvement in the recent pager bombings targeting Hezbollah members in Lebanon.
The company’s chairperson, Hsu Ching-kuang, clarified that the pagers were actually manufactured by a European distributor that had a contract with Gold Apollo to use their brand.
This contract was established about three years ago, initially for importing Gold Apollo’s other communication products, but later the distributor requested permission to produce their own pagers under the Gold Apollo brand.
Gold Apollo reported an anomaly in their dealings with the distributor, specifically a wire transfer that took longer than expected to clear, reported CNN.
A senior Taiwanese security official told the outlet that Gold Apollo shipped around 260,000 pagers from Taiwan, primarily to the US and Australia, with no records of shipments to Lebanon or the Middle East.
Namita Singh18 September 2024 05:44 Newer1 / 5OlderDisclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
