In a speech Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed Israel “a terrible punishment” after hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the Islamist movement exploded across Lebanon Tuesday and Wednesday in an unprecedented attack that left at least 37 dead and nearly 3,000 injured.
Key information to remember
⇒ Israel continues its air raids in Lebanon
⇒ The origin of the beepers is still unknown
⇒ The devices were booby-trapped before entering Lebanon
The origin of pagers still unknown
Bulgarian authorities on Friday ruled out any direct involvement of Sofia-based Norta Global in the production and delivery of the booby-trapped pagers of the Islamist movement Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Following the checks carried out, it has been established beyond doubt that no communication equipment corresponding to those that exploded on September 17 was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria,” the National Security Agency (DANS) announced in a statement. The previous day, it had announced that it was conducting investigations following an article on the Hungarian website Telex citing anonymous sources, according to which the company registered in Sofia by a Norwegian had imported the pagers and organized their delivery to the Islamist movement. The origin of the pagers could not be determined at this stage.
Two representatives of Taiwanese companies were questioned in Taiwan on Friday as part of the investigation into the Gold Apollo group, whose brand name appears on the pagers and which on Wednesday blamed its Hungarian partner BAC Consulting for the manufacturing. However, according to Budapest, this company is “a commercial intermediary, without a production or operational site in Hungary” and “the devices in question have never been on Hungarian soil”.
New Israeli air raids in Lebanon
Israel continued its airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, saying it had targeted Hezbollah rocket launchers “ready to be used immediately to fire on Israeli territory.” In total, it said it had struck “about 100 launchers” and other infrastructure “representing about 1,000 cannons” on Thursday. According to the Lebanese news agency Ani, the Israeli air force struck southern Lebanon at least 52 times. These bombardments were among the most intense since the start of the exchange of fire on the Israeli-Lebanese border in October 2023.
Israel has yet to comment on the deadly explosions of Hezbollah’s communications devices, but its army said in a statement that it was determined to “continue to demolish the infrastructure and capabilities of the […] of Hezbollah to defend the State of Israel.”
On Thursday, the leader of the Islamist movement Hassan Nasrallah assured that Israel would receive “a terrible punishment, where it expects it and where it does not expect it”, accusing Tel Aviv of having “crossed all the red lines”. As he delivered his speech, the Israeli air force flew over Beirut at low altitude, breaking the sound barrier.
Pagers and walkie-talkies booby-trapped before entering Lebanon
A preliminary investigation by Lebanese authorities shows that the Hezbollah beepers, walkie-talkies and other transmission devices that exploded this week were booby-trapped “professionally” before entering the country, according to a letter from the Lebanese mission to the UN seen by AFP. “Their explosion was triggered by the sending of emails to the device,” said the letter, which described the attack attributed to Israel as “unprecedented in its brutality” and called on the UN Security Council to condemn it. At the request of Algeria, an emergency meeting of the Council is scheduled for Friday, in the presence of Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.