Insider: Israel manipulated pagers – manufacturer denies involvement

At the same time, hundreds of pagers explode in Lebanon. They were allegedly intercepted by Israeli agents on the delivery route and loaded with explosives.

According to media reports, the radio receivers that exploded simultaneously in Lebanon in their hundreds were probably primed with explosives by Israeli agents. A small amount of explosives was hidden in 5,000 pagers made by Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo during production, a high-ranking Lebanese security official and another person familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

Israeli agents intercepted the Taiwan-made devices before they arrived in Lebanon and loaded each one with about 25 to 50 grams of explosives, the New York Times reported, citing American and other officials who were informed of the operation.

“The Mossad has planted a circuit board with explosives and a code in the device. It is very difficult to detect this by any means, even with devices or scanners,” said the Lebanese security official. The 5,000 pagers were ordered by the Lebanese Hezbollah group and brought into the country at the beginning of the year. 3,000 of the pagers exploded on Tuesday when an encrypted message was sent to them, which simultaneously activated the explosives. Israel did not initially respond to Reuters’ inquiries.

The manufacturer Gold Apollo denied allegations that the company had manufactured the pagers used in the explosions. “The product was not ours. It only bore our brand name,” said company founder Hsu Ching-Kuang. Gold Apollo told the German Press Agency that the pagers were manufactured by a company in Hungary that had the right to use the Taiwanese company’s brand. Gold Apollo was also a victim of the incident. “We are a responsible company. This is very embarrassing,” he said.

Hezbollah fighters use pagers as a simple means of communication to evade Israeli tracking on smartphones. According to insiders, the modified devices entered the country earlier this year and went undetected for months.

The Wall Street Journal quoted the managing director of a US cybersecurity company as saying that it is possible that hackers could have used malware to heat up the batteries in the pagers and made them explode. But that would be very difficult. Not only would the hackers have to know the exact make and model, the effect would also not have been as severe as videos of the explosions suggest, the expert said. He also believes it is more likely that a delivery of the pagers was intercepted on the way from the manufacturer to its destination and packed with explosives and a code.

According to the Ministry of Health in Lebanon, around 2,750 people were injured and nine people were killed in the simultaneous explosions. Many Hezbollah fighters are said to be among the injured, including members of the elite Radwan force. According to information from the US news portal Axios, the explosions also paralyzed a significant part of Hezbollah’s military command and control system.

The attack carried out by Israel was aimed at unsettling Hezbollah and creating the feeling within the militia’s ranks that it was completely penetrated by Israeli intelligence services, Axios quoted an unnamed source as saying. Israel’s army did not initially comment on the incidents, but indicated that it was preparing for retaliation.

Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi held a briefing on Tuesday evening that focused on “readiness in all areas, both offensive and defensive,” it said.

The pro-Iranian Shiite militia blamed Israel and threatened retaliation. Nabih Berri, the Lebanese parliamentary speaker who is allied with Hezbollah, spoke of a “massacre and war crime by Israel”. In memory of the victims of the incidents and in protest, schools and universities in Lebanon are to remain closed today.

The Iranian reaction was similar: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the explosions as an act of terror and blamed Israel. The Islamic Republic of Iran is an important ally of the Hezbollah militia, and both deny the Jewish state the right to exist. Araghchi expressed his condolences to his Lebanese colleague Abdullah Bou Habib and offered Iran’s support.