Beirut, Sep 18 (V7N) – A senior Lebanese security official has accused the Israeli spy agency Mossad of orchestrating the explosions of approximately 3,000 pagers used by Hezbollah fighters. The devices, imported from Taiwan-based company Gold Apollo, were reportedly tampered with during production, embedding explosive chips that detonated across Lebanon on Tuesday.

The explosions, which British news agency Reuters confirmed, have caused significant disruption to Hezbollah's communications network. The incident resulted in at least nine fatalities and left around 3,000 people injured, including Hezbollah fighters and Iran's ambassador to Lebanon.

The Lebanese security official provided further details, explaining that Hezbollah had imported 5,000 pagers from Gold Apollo. He described how Mossad allegedly implanted explosive chips in the AP-924 model pagers, which are primarily used to send and receive short messages. These devices, designed to minimise detection, were thought to be secure until the coordinated explosions occurred.

He claimed that Mossad rigged the pagers months ago with a special chip capable of receiving a coded signal, triggering the explosions. Another official added that the devices contained three grams of explosives, which were undetectable with standard scanning equipment.

Jonathan Panikoff, a former US intelligence official, remarked that the incident represented a serious intelligence failure for Hezbollah. Hezbollah itself acknowledged the scale of the security breach, marking it as one of the group's largest threats since the start of the Gaza war.

As Hezbollah recovers from the shock, the organisation has vowed retaliation against Israel. However, the Israeli government has not yet commented on the explosions, and no statement has been issued by Gold Apollo, the company involved in manufacturing the pagers.

END/AJ/MSS