According to U.S. and other officials, Israel’s Mossad agency secretly placed three grams of explosives in pagers sold to Hezbollah prior to recent explosions in Beirut. The pagers, sourced from the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, were reportedly modified before reaching Lebanon, as detailed in a New York Times report.
Most of the devices were of the AP924 model, with a few others included in the shipment. The explosives were strategically hidden next to the battery, aimed at detonating when activated by Hezbollah members.
The Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo has denied any involvement, asserting that the pagers used in the blasts were not their products. “They are not our products from beginning to end,” said company head Hsu Chin-kuang.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the explosions that resulted in 11 fatalities and over 4,000 injuries. Although Israel has not officially confirmed its role, the New York Times report indicates that Israel intercepted and tampered with the pagers before they arrived in Lebanon.
The U.S. State Department, while distancing itself from the incident, emphasized the importance of restraint from Iran in light of escalating regional tensions. A State Department spokesman confirmed that the U.S. had no prior knowledge or involvement in the pager explosions and reiterated calls for a diplomatic resolution to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
