A senior Lebanese security source has claimed that Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s detonations that killed nine people.
The operation, with a trail running from Taiwan to Budapest, was an unprecedented Hezbollah security breach that saw thousands of pagers explode across Lebanon, wounding nearly 3,000 people, including many of the group’s fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut.
The Lebanese security source said the pagers were from Taiwan-based gold apollo, but the company’s head Hsu Ching-kuang said it did not manufacture the device, fingering a company called bac – based in Budapest which has a licence to use its brand, but gave no more details.
Hezbollah spokesperson, Ibrahim Al-moussawi said the group wants to avoid an all-out war, but given the scale and the impact on families, there will be pressure for a stronger response, and it will hold Israel responsible the attacks.
The pager blasts came at a time of mounting concern about tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
