Lebanon attack: Israel accused of tampering with pagers, firm says devices manufactured by Budapest-based company

A day after multiple pagers exploded across Lebanon and Syria, killing at least 11 people, officials stated that Israel had tampered with pagers imported to Lebanon. The company behind the pagers has said that while its brand was on the devices, they were manufactured by a Budapest-based company.

According to a report in the New York Times, around 1 to 2 ounces of explosive material was implanted next to the battery in each pager. Officials said that a switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.

These pagers bore the branding of Gold Apollo. Most were the company’s AP924 model.

‘Pagers made by Budapest-based company’

The Taiwanese company, however, in a statement said that another firm, BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, manufactured the devices.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorise BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” a statement by Gold Apollo, quoted by news agency AP, read.

Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told media that his company has had an authorisation agreement with BAC for the past three years.

“This company has cooperated with us and represents many of our products,” Hsu said. “They also wanted to make pagers and asked me if they could use our company’s brand name.” He added the products involved in the explosion were designed by BAC. Hsu and other Gold Apollo representatives did not disclose more details about BAC and did not show any proof of the organisations’ agreement.

How did the explosions occur?

According to the NYT report, these pagers received a message at 3.30 pm, which activated the explosives. The devices were also programmed to beep for several seconds.

These explosions killed at least 11 people and injured over 2,700, according to reports. Most of those impacted were said to be members of the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah.

The NYT report also stated over 3,000 pagers were ordered from Gold Apollo, and Hezbollah had distributed these to its members in Lebanon, as well as allies in Iran and Syria.

Hezbollah blames Israel

Hezbollah has accused Israel of orchestrating the attack but has described limited details of its understanding of the operation. Israel has not commented on the attack nor said it was behind it.

Keren Elazari, an Israeli cybersecurity analyst and researcher at Tel Aviv University, said the attacks had targeted Hezbollah where it was most vulnerable.

Earlier this year, Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, strictly limited the use of cellphones, which he saw as increasingly vulnerable to Israeli surveillance, according to some of the officials as well as security experts.

“This attack hit them in their Achilles’ heel because they took out a central means of communication,” Elazari said. “We have seen these types of devices, pagers, targeted before but not in an attack this sophisticated.”

— with inputs from AP, New York Times

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