A minimum of nine individuals lost their lives and thousands more sustained injuries due to a series of pager explosions that occurred throughout Lebanon yesterday. The militant organization Hezbollah, whose members utilized the pagers for communication, has attributed the attack to Israel.
We continue our live coverage of the escalating Middle East crisis and the Israel-Hamas conflict, following a series of pager explosions that shook Lebanon yesterday.
Early this morning, Lebanese security officials informed Reuters that Israel's Mossad spy agency had planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers ordered months ago by Hezbollah. The source initially claimed that the devices were produced by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo but had been altered by Mossad at the production stage.
However, Gold Apollo later clarified that the AR-924 model pagers were actually produced by a European company using its trademark under a licensing deal.
In a separate report, a U.S. official told the Associated Press that Israel had briefed the U.S. about an operation in which small explosives hidden in Hezbollah's pagers were remotely detonated. Israel has yet to comment on the attack.
Here’s a brief recap of yesterday’s events:
- Nine people were killed, including an eight-year-old girl, and up to 2,750 people were injured.
- Videos captured the explosions and the ensuing chaos in Lebanon.
- Two airlines have temporarily halted flights to the region due to the deteriorating security situation.
- The U.S. emphasized that it had no involvement and, like many others, is investigating the incident.
- Experts believe the pagers were intercepted and rigged with explosives.
- The blasts occurred shortly after Israel declared stopping Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks as a formal war objective.
Taiwan’s economy ministry has since stated that there’s no record of a direct export of the explosive pagers to Lebanon, supporting the claim that the devices were not made in Taiwan. The ministry pointed out that the pagers were likely modified post-export. Gold Apollo further reiterated that the pagers were produced by BAC, a European company authorized to use its trademark but not involved in the design or production of the devices.
A full statement from Gold Apollo, given to Sky News, affirmed that the AR-924 pagers were made under license by BAC and that Gold Apollo had no role in their design or manufacture.
Yesterday’s explosions were reportedly the result of up to three grams of explosives hidden in pagers that went undetected by Hezbollah for months. According to Reuters, 3,000 of these devices exploded when triggered by a coded message. The Mossad allegedly embedded a board inside the pagers capable of receiving a detonation code, making detection nearly impossible.
Despite accusations, Israel has yet to comment on the blasts that claimed nine lives and injured thousands.
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