Lots of of pagers belonging to the Hezbollah armed group exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday, killing not less than 12 folks and injuring round 2,750. Some pagers belonging to the Hezbollah armed group additionally exploded in Syria, inflicting some accidents.
Lebanon, Hezbollah and the group’s allies have blamed Israel, however what actually occurred? Many analysts consider the reply might lie in how Hezbollah obtained maintain of the pagers within the first place, as a result of that would present clues as as to whether the units have been manipulated to facilitate the explosions.
This is what we all know and what specialists suppose may need occurred:
At round 3:30 p.m. (12:30 GMT), a whole lot of pagers started to blow up throughout Lebanon.
Hezbollah issued a press release Tuesday saying two of its fighters and a lady have been killed when “pagers belonging to staff of assorted Hezbollah items and establishments exploded.”
The Iran-backed group blamed the pager blasts on Israel, which has been engaged in tit-for-tat assaults with Hezbollah on the Lebanon-Israel border because the begin of Israel’s warfare in Gaza.
The Israeli navy has refused to touch upon the blasts and Hezbollah has vowed retaliation in opposition to Israel.
A Lebanese safety supply and one other supply informed Reuters information company that Mossad, Israel’s spy company, positioned explosives in 5,000 pagers that Hezbollah had ordered months earlier than the blasts. The sources mentioned a code was despatched concurrently to three,000 of the pagers, triggering the explosions.
Whereas the precise mechanism used for the pager explosions is unclear presently, some specialists speculate that the radio system the pagers depend on was hacked, probably via altered code. The pager batteries may have overheated, resulting in a course of known as thermal runaway, which in flip precipitated the pager batteries to blow up.
Some analysts, together with Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British military officer and chemical weapons skilled, have speculated that the pagers may even have been manipulated alongside the provision chain and programmed to blow up on command.
However Brussels-based political and navy analyst Elijah Magnier informed Al Jazeera that his sources near the bottom in Lebanon had shared particulars of preliminary investigations carried out by Hezbollah into pagers that didn’t explode.
These investigations counsel that Israel positioned between 1 and three grams (0.04 to 0.11 oz) of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a robust explosive, in every system.
Lebanon faces a sequence of sanctions imposed by america, the European Union and its Western companions. As well as, america, the UK and their allies, reminiscent of Japan, embody Hezbollah amongst “terrorist” organisations.
Because of this firms registered on these domains or buying and selling with these nations are cautious of doing direct enterprise, particularly in know-how, with Hezbollah (and infrequently even Lebanon).
On this case, Magnier mentioned, the pagers bought by Hezbollah have been within the possession of a 3rd get together and remained in a port for 3 months, awaiting authorizations, earlier than lastly being transferred to the Lebanese group.
Hezbollah suspects that it was throughout these three months that Israel managed to plant explosives within the units, the navy analyst mentioned.
The rechargeable pagers have been confiscated and held for a while earlier than being launched and despatched to #Lebanon. There, #Israel He tempered the pagers and positioned the 1 to three gram explosive system in each.
—Elías J. Magnier 🇪🇺 (@ejmalrai) September 17, 2024
He added that Hezbollah’s investigation to this point reveals that steel balls have been positioned across the pagers’ batteries, permitting the explosive drive to propel steel fragments outward, “considerably growing the lethality of the explosion.” He added that this was additionally achieved in the course of the three months the cargo was on maintain.
However the place and when have been pagers made?
Taiwan or Hungary?
The trademark of Taiwanese pager producer Gold Apollo has been recognized on the wreckage of exploded pagers, which seem to belong to the corporate’s AR-924 mannequin.
On Wednesday, the corporate issued a press release denying it had made Hezbollah’s pagers and saying solely its brand was on the units.
As an alternative, the pagers had been constructed by a Hungarian firm known as BAC via a licensing settlement, the Taiwanese agency mentioned.
“The design and manufacturing of the merchandise is totally dealt with by BAC,” Gold Apollo mentioned in a press release. “We solely present trademark authorization and don’t have any involvement within the design and manufacturing of this product.” BAC has not commented to this point.
Proof to this point suggests Hezbollah acquired the pagers round February when the group’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah, ordered his members to cease utilizing cellphones as a result of they could possibly be simply intercepted and monitored by Israeli intelligence.
What can we find out about BAC?
BAC Consulting relies within the capital of Hungary, Budapest.
Reuters reported that the tackle listed for BAC is a peach-coloured constructing in a residential space. Whereas the corporate’s identify is posted there on an A4 sheet of paper, an nameless supply current on the constructing informed the information company that the corporate has no bodily presence within the constructing regardless of being registered there.
In keeping with LinkedIn, BAC’s CEO is Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, whose profile says she has labored for a number of organizations, together with UNESCO.
Their profile says: “We provide in-depth consulting that guides our purchasers on their path to innovation, sustainability, and fairness, whereas making certain connection and authenticity. Our core providers are enterprise improvement, administration consulting, technique, and partnership planning.”
Al Jazeera contacted BAC however acquired no response.
