Questions on the Hezbollah Device Explosions

After thousands of pagers and radio devices exploded in two separate incidents in Lebanon - injuring thousands of people and killing at least 37.  Finally, details are coming in on how such an operation was carried out.

1. How were the pagers compromised?

Experts quickly dismissed the theory that the pagers targeted by a complex hack that caused them to explode.  To cause damage on the scale that they did, they had to be rigged with explosives before they entered Hezbollah’s possession. Images of the broken remains of the pagers show the logo of a small Taiwanese electronics manufacturer: Gold Apollo. The company's founder, Hsu Ching-Kuang, has denied the business had anything to do with the operation.  The pictures of the destroyed devices do not show markings that they were actually made in Taiwan.  But three years ago, Gold Apollo licensed their trademark to a Hungarian company called BAC Consulting, who put the Gold Apollo name on their Hungarian-made pagers. It has been revealed that Gold Apollo had trouble processing the money transfers paying for that license fee, and that the transfer originated from the Middle East.

2. What did a Hungarian company have to do with it?

The registered office of BAC Consulting, is in a residential area of the Hungarian capital, Budapest.  BAC's address is also shared by 12 other companies. Hungarian officials say the firm, which was first incorporated in 2022, was merely a “trading intermediary with no manufacturing or operational site” in the country.  BAC's website listed one person as its chief executive and founder - Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono.  Bársony-Arcidiacono spoke to NBC News, saying: "I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate.” So who is really behind BAC Consulting?  You guessed it-- the New York Times has reported that the company was in fact a front for Israeli intelligence.  Bulgarian broadcaster bTV has also reported that $1.8M  connected to the device attacks in Lebanon passed through Bulgaria and was later sent to Hungary.

 

3. How were the devices detonated?

Videos show victims reaching into their pockets in the seconds before the pageers detonated, causing chaos in streets, shops and homes across the country.  Lebanese authorities have concluded that the devices were detonated by "electronic messages" sent to them, according to a letter by the Lebanese mission to the UN, seen by Reuters news agency.  Citing U.S . officials, the New York Times said that the pagers received messages that appeared to be coming from Hezbollah's leadership before detonating. The messages instead appeared to trigger the devices, the outlet reported.  It is not yet known what kind of messages were sent to the radio devices.

4. So how exactly were the radio devices compromised?

The origins of the radio devices, which exploded in the second wave of attacks, are less clear. Some of those that exploded were the IC-V82 model produced by the Japanese company, Icom.  Those devices were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago. A sales executive at the U.S. subsidiary of Icom told the Associated Press that the exploded radio devices in Lebanon appeared to be knockoff products that were not made by the company – adding that it was easy to find counterfeit versions online (a claim that was quickly confirmed by numerous news agencies).  Icom said it had stopped manufacturing and selling the model almost a decade ago, and that it also discontinued production of the batteries needed to operate it. The company said it does not outsource manufacturing overseas - and all its radios are produced at a factory in Western Japan.  According to Kyodo news agency, Icom director Yoshiki Enomoyo suggested that photos of the damage around the battery compartment of the exploded walkie-talkies look like they have been retrofitted with explosives.

5. Have other devices been sabotaged?

This is the question many in Lebanon are now asking - paranoid that other devices, cameras, phones or laptops could have also been rigged with explosives.   The Lebanese Army has been on the streets of Beirut using a remote-controlled bomb disposal robot to carry out controlled explosions. Journalists and news crews in Lebanon have been stopped and told not to use their phones or cameras.  "Everyone is just panicking… We don’t know if we can stay next to our laptops, our phones. Everything seems like a danger at this point, and no-one knows what to do,” one woman, Ghida, told a BBC correspondent.

6. Why did the attack happen now?

There is growing suspicion that Israel did not intend to put its plan in motion at this moment, but was forced to after fearing the plot was about to be exposed.  According to Axios, the original plan was for the pager attack to be the opening salvo of an all-out war as a way to try to cripple Hezbollah’s fighters. But, it says, after Israel learned that Hezbollah had become suspicious, it chose to carry out the attack early.