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Explosive pagers used by Hezbollah had been modified by Israel ‘at production level’, Reuters told by Lebanese security sources

Explosive pagers used by Hezbollah had been modified by Israel 'at production level', Reuters told by Lebanese security sources

Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside thousands of pagers ordered by Hezbollah months before the devices exploded, a Lebanese security source has told the Reuters news agency.

The senior source said the militant group had ordered 5,000 beepers which several other sources said were brought into Lebanon in the spring.

The same source claimed that the devices had been modified by Israel’s spy service “at the production level”.

A second security source told Reuters that up to three grammes of explosives were hidden in the new pagers that went “undetected” by Hezbollah for months.

Image:
The remains of what is claimed to be one of the exploding pagers

Middle East latest: ‘Israel planted explosives in pagers’

Details from the Reuters report are similar to one by the New York Times, which citied American and other officials.

Images of the destroyed devices analysed by Reuters showed a format and stickers that were consistent with the 924 model of pagers made by Gold Apollo – a Taiwan-based company.

The firm’s founder, Hsu Ching-Kuang, said the devices were actually made under licence in Europe using the Gold Apollo name.

He did not give any further detail on the European company.

Hsu Ching-Kuang, founder of Apollo Gold, says the pagers were made in Europe under licence Pic: Reuters
Image:
Hsu Ching-Kuang, founder of Apollo Gold, says the pagers were made in Europe under licence Pic: Reuters

The model, like other pagers, wirelessly receives and display text messages but cannot make telephone calls.

People gather outside American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as more than 1,000 people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon, according to a security source, in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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People gather outside American University of Beirut Medical Center. Pic: Reuters

Nine people were killed and thousands seriously injured in Tuesday’s explosions in different parts of Lebanon, the country’s health minister said.

Firas Abiad said 200 of the 2,750 wounded were in a critical condition.

Lebanese officials laid the blame on “Israeli aggression”, while Hezbollah promised to retaliate insisting Israel would receive “its fair punishment” for the blasts.

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‘Around 2,750’ injured in pager blasts

The Israeli military, which has been engaged in cross-border fighting with Hezbollah since the start of the Gaza war in October last year, has refused to respond to questions about the detonations.

Read more:
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Experts broadly agree that the blasts do not look like a typical lithium battery fire.

Keren Elazari, a hacker and security researcher at Tel Aviv University, told Sky News: “There is no remote hacking capability that could generate that kind of kinetic explosion… some sort of a physical explosive component was probably part of the equation.”

Bomb disposal expert and former British army officer Chris Hunter added that his initial theory – based on injuries – suggests the blasts are “consistent with one to two ounces of high explosive”.

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Ambulances at scene of pagers explosion

“We’ve seen this sort of similar MO [particular method] with mobile devices before,” he said, pointing to the assassination of Hamas master bomb maker Yahya Ayyash whose mobile phone had been laced with a small amount of explosives.

Hezbollah fighters would have considered pagers a lo-fi, harder to infiltrate alternative to mobile phones, according to Sky News’s Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall.

It comes after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members in February not to carry mobile phones because Israel could use them to track their movements.