On the evening of September 18, Reuters quoted a security source and a witness as saying that many handheld radios used by Hezbollah forces exploded that afternoon in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut.
Extremely sophisticated
At least one explosion occurred near a funeral held by Hezbollah for those killed a day earlier, when thousands of pagers used by the force exploded across the country, killing at least 12 people and injuring 2,750.
Latest information from security sources said 3 people died and 100 people were injured in this latest series of explosions.
Hezbollah has accused Israel of being behind the mass pager explosions and said it had launched retaliatory rocket attacks on Israeli outposts on the border with Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said about 10 rockets were fired from Lebanon into the Western Galilee region. All landed in open areas and caused no casualties.
Earlier, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Israel's Mossad intelligence agency had planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Hezbollah several months ago.
The source also said that these pagers were imported from Taiwan's Gold Apollo Company. However, Gold Apollo founder Hsu Ching-Kuang denied this information and affirmed that the 5,000 pagers were produced by BAC Company, headquartered in Budapest (Hungary).
Responding to NBC News, Ms. Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, CEO of BAC Company, denied producing pagers.
A senior Lebanese security source confirmed that the pagers were modified by Mossad during production.
“Mossad inserted a circuit board into the devices that contained explosives, which could be detonated remotely upon receiving a coded message. They were so sophisticated that they were difficult to detect with any device or scanner,” the source said. Another source said that about 3 grams of explosives had been hidden in the pagers for months without Hezbollah’s knowledge.
Mossad is known for its sophisticated espionage and assassination operations, and has been blamed for numerous cyberattacks, as well as being suspected of being behind the assassination of a top Iranian scientist with a remote-controlled machine gun. Israeli officials have not commented on the pager explosions in Lebanon.
Previously, on September 17, the Axios news portal quoted a source saying that the operation to detonate pagers in Lebanon was approved in meetings of the Israeli government.
Serious security breach
A Hezbollah official said it was Hezbollah's most serious security breach since the conflict in the Gaza Strip erupted last year. Hezbollah outlined plans in February to address gaps in its intelligence infrastructure.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has warned that phones are “more dangerous than Israeli spies.” Instead, the group has opted for pagers, which operate on a separate frequency and are therefore considered more reliable than mobile phone networks, which can experience disruptions, connection problems or eavesdropping.
Earlier this week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the door to a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah was closing. However, observers say the series of pager explosions is not a sign of an imminent Israeli ground attack. Instead, it is a sign that Israel has deeply penetrated Hezbollah.
MINH CHAU synthesis
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/hang-loat-may-nhan-tin-bo-dam-phat-no-tai-lebanon-hon-2800-nguoi-thuong-vong-post759643.html
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