Hsu Ching-Kuang, the founder of Gold Apollo in Taiwan, stated that the pagers used in the explosions in Lebanon were not produced by the company.
When pagers used by Hezbollah members, including fighters and medics, detonated simultaneously throughout Lebanon, at least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 injured.
The explosions began at 3:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) in the eastern Bekaa valley and the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, which are strongholds of the militant Hezbollah organization that opposes Israel.4
They continued for about an hour, and witnesses and Dahiyeh residents told news agency Reuters that they could still hear explosions at 4:30 p.m.
According to American and other officials who spoke with the New York Times, Israel carried out the operation against Hezbollah by putting explosives inside pagers that were imported into Lebanon and manufactured in Taiwan.
According to the NYT report, Hezbollah had placed an order for these pagers from Gold Apollo in Taiwan.
Hsu Ching-Kuang, the founder of Gold Apollo, stated that the pagers used in the explosions in Lebanon were not produced by the company.
Hezbollah accused Israel of detonating pagers and vowed to exact revenge.
The late-afternoon explosion of the pagers, which are portable communication devices used by Hezbollah and other groups in Lebanon, was denounced as “Israeli aggression” by Ziad Makary, the minister of information in Lebanon. Israel would get “its fair punishment” for the explosions, according to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah pager blasts in Lebanon: 10 updates
- The explosives, weighing between one and two ounces, were allegedly concealed close to the batteries and could be remotely detonated, according to the NYT report.
- The pagers detonated at 3:30 pm, apparently in response to a message from the Hezbollah leadership, leaving over 2,800 people injured and at least nine people dead.
- Israel has not admitted guilt, while Hezbollah accused the nation while providing few specifics. Experts hypothesized that Hezbollah’s decreased reliance on cellphones was exploited by the attack.
- According to news agency Reuters, which cited two unidentified sources and a senior Lebanese security source, Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers that were ordered by Hezbollah, a Lebanese organization, months prior to Tuesday’s detonations.
- Additionally, according to Reuters, the group had placed an order for pagers manufactured by Gold Apollo, which multiple sources claim were imported earlier this year. According to Reuters, the Lebanese source recognized a picture of the pager’s model, an AP924.
- Photographs of damaged pagers that Reuters examined revealed stickers on the rear and a format that matched pagers manufactured by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo.
- Iran-supported Hezbollah declared that Israel would get “its fair punishment” and that it was conducting a “security and scientific investigation” into the origins of the explosions.
- According to security and diplomatic sources, it’s possible that the devices’ batteries overheated and burst, resulting in the explosions.
- According to the New York Times, which quoted a few officials and security experts, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, severely restricted the use of cellphones earlier this year because he believed they were becoming more and more susceptible to Israeli surveillance.
- After the attack, which left fighters and others injured, hospitalized, or killed, Hezbollah was in disarray. Speaking under anonymity, a Hezbollah official described the explosion as the organization’s “biggest security breach” since the October 7 outbreak of hostilities in Gaza between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas.
