Nine people, including a child, have been killed after handheld pagers used by members of the armed group Hezbollah to communicate exploded across Lebanon, the country’s health minister says. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was among 2,800 other people who were wounded by the simultaneous blasts in Beirut and several other regions.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said the pagers belonged “to employees of various Hezbollah units and institutions” and confirmed the deaths of eight fighters. The group blamed Israel for what it called “this criminal aggression” and vowed that it would get “just retribution”. The Israeli military declined to comment.
Hours before the explosions, Israel’s security cabinet said stopping Hezbollah attacks on the north of the country to allow the safe return of displaced residents was an official war goal.
There have been almost daily exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the day after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on 7 October.
Hezbollah has said it is acting in support of the Iran-backed Palestinian group.
In its latest statement on Wednesday, Hezbollah said it would carry on its “operations in support of Gaza”, adding that this was a “continuous path separate from the hard price that awaits the enemy in response to its massacre on Tuesday”.
#Hezbollah’s deadly pagers were sourced from a Taiwanese company and contained explosive material planted by Israel: reports
Hezbollah’s exploding pagers were sourced from a Taiwanese company, officials told NYT and Reuters. Both outlets reported that Israel also planted the pagers with small amounts of explosives. Gold Apollo, the Taiwanese company named, denied on Wednesday that it manufactured the pagers. Thousands of Hezbollah-owned pagers that detonated in unison on Tuesday were made in Taiwan and had been tampered with by Israel, according to multiple reports.
The wireless beeper explosions, now widely considered an unusual and audacious attack on the Iran-backed militant group, raise serious questions about Hezbollah’s security. Lebanese health officials say the detonations injured at least 2,700 people and killed nine more.
The New York Times reported that Hezbollah had purchased the pagers from Gold Apollo, a manufacturer in Taiwan.
The Times cited unnamed officials, at least some of whom were American, and wrote that Hezbollah had primarily obtained the AP924 model of Gold Apollo’s pagers, though it bought another three models.
The outlet further reported that two officials said Israeli forces had planted small amounts of explosive material — as little as one or two ounces — next to the pagers’ batteries with remote switches. …
Per Reuters, he said the devices were instead manufactured by a European firm that had the right to use Gold Apollo’s brand.
“The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,” he said, according to the outlet.
Hsu called the incident “very embarrassing,” but said his company had also been made a victim, per Reuters.
Reuters had earlier reported similar findings to The Times, citing an unnamed senior Lebanese source who said that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 beepers, including the AP924, from Gold Apollo.
The same source told the outlet that Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, had planted a board inside the pagers that contained explosive material and could remotely receive a detonation code. "
“It’s very hard to detect it through any means. Even with any device or scanner,” the source said, per Reuters.
The outlet added that it had examined some of the exploding pagers and said their design and stickers matched devices built by Gold Apollo.
Gold Apollo and the Israeli Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Hezbollah and Lebanon have both blamed Israel for the exploding pagers, though Tel Aviv has not claimed responsibility.
Pagers became a significant part of Hezbollah’s communication network earlier this year, when its leaders decided to use the devices out of concern that its cellphone network had been compromised.
A July report from Reuters citing multiple sources familiar with Hezbollah said that the group had made the switch due to the loss of several commanders amid hostilities with Israel.
Business Insider via MSN