New Details of Hezbollah Exploding Pagers’ Supply Chain Emerge

A Taiwanese manufacturer revealed on Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the pagers used in Tuesday’s deadly attack on Hezbollah.

Though the pagers have been exported across a number of international markets, Gold Apollo say these specific devices were manufactured by Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT.

Gold Apollo’s statement clarified that while they authorized BAC to use their brand for product sales in designated regions, the design and manufacturing of the products were solely BAC’s responsibility.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for the sophisticated remote attack.

An American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Israel briefed the United States following the attacks.

It is alleged that Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, are responsible for the attacks, planting explosives inside 5,000 AR-924 pagers imported by the Lebanese militant group months prior to yesterday’s explosions.

Experts believe explosive material was laced in the pagers prior to their delivery to Lebanon and Syria using complex supply chain obstruction.

Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told journalists that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years but did not provide evidence of the contract.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said that from the beginning of 2022 until August 2024, Gold Apollo exported 260,000 sets of pagers.

At its peak, this included more than 40,000 sets between January and August of this year.

The attacks have killed at least nine people and injured a further 3,000. Iran’s ambassador in Lebanon was among those wounded.

The explosions occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday and continued for about 30 minutes.

Almost all of the blasts were mainly in areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb, the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, and Damascus. Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed these details.

Hezbollah, which has pointed the blame at Israel, said in a statement on Wednesday morning that it would continue its normal strikes against Israel “as in all the past days” as part of what it describes as a support front for its ally, Hamas, and Palestinians in Gaza.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery and could receive texts of up to 100 characters. It also claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life, crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages are commonplace following years of economic collapse.

The ministry said the pagers were exported mainly to European and American countries and that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s use of the pagers were intended to sidestep more complex Israeli electronic surveillance.

“The phone that we have in our hands—I do not have a phone in my hand—is a listening device,” warned Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a February speech.

He later added: “I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent. It is a deadly agent, not a simple one. It is a deadly agent that provides specific and accurate information. Therefore, this requires great seriousness when confronting it.”

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.