(Scypre.com) – A Taiwanese pager manufacturer, Gold Apollo, denied on Wednesday any involvement in an explosion that injured nearly 3,000 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. The devices, which detonated in a shocking attack that escalated tensions between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, were reportedly produced by a company named BAC, based in Budapest, Hungary.
According to sources from Lebanese security and Reuters, Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, was responsible for planting explosives inside pagers imported by Hezbollah months before the devices were activated on Tuesday. The explosions killed 12 people, including two children, and injured Iran’s envoy to Beirut. Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad confirmed the casualties on Wednesday.
Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful ally in the region, has vowed retaliation, further intensifying the already volatile situation between the group and Israel. The two parties have been engaged in cross-border conflict since the outbreak of the Gaza war last October. The recent attacks have renewed fears of a broader Middle East war involving the U.S. and Iran. Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of inciting regional instability through escalations on multiple fronts.
“Hezbollah wants to avoid all-out war, but the damage to civilians and the impact on families may force a stronger response,” stated Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center. The group, in a statement, expressed its continued support for Hamas in Gaza and warned Israel to brace for the consequences of the attack, which it described as a “massacre.”
The devices that caused the explosions were a model known as AR-924 pagers. Gold Apollo, the manufacturer, distanced itself from the attack, stating that the devices were licensed and made by BAC, a Hungarian company. Gold Apollo’s founder, Hsu Ching-Kuang, emphasized that the product was not theirs, only branded with their name.
BAC Consulting, the Budapest-based company, is listed as engaging in a wide range of activities, from IT consulting to crude oil extraction, though it reportedly does not have a physical office. Its CEO, Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, has a varied professional background, but she has not responded to inquiries from Reuters.
The plot reportedly took months to execute, following a series of assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, which were attributed to Israel. Hezbollah fighters had been using the pagers to evade Israeli tracking technology. However, a senior Lebanese security official revealed that Mossad had managed to modify the devices during production, inserting small explosive charges into them. The explosives, which were activated remotely, went undetected by Hezbollah for months, with about 3,000 pagers exploding simultaneously.
In a February speech, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah had warned his followers to be cautious of their phones, labeling them as more dangerous than Israeli spies. Despite the warning, Hezbollah distributed the pagers across different branches of the group, from fighters to medics. Mossad, known for its sophisticated operations, has a long history of such covert activities, including the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in 2020.