LISTEN:The scene is a hospital ward in Beirut. The atmosphere is one of devastation and chaos. Men lie on beds or slump in wheelchairs, their clothes spattered with blood. One rolls onto his side: the end of his hand is ragged, torn almost like paper. Stumps dangle where his fingers once were.
Crowds watch as smoke rises from a building following an explosion, as hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated across south Lebanon's and in Beirut The answer lies, as always with Israeli security operations, in fastidious planning, creativity and guts. All these qualities were needed for this operation because Hezbollah is far more than just a terror organisation. It is a paramilitary group that also de facto runs the state of Lebanon.
Sources say the explosive material was PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate – structurally very similar to nitroglycerin and formidably powerful while at the same time very stable. This is a disaster for Hezbollah. The pagers were most likely used by its most senior officers – meaning those maimed were likely from the rank of major or lieutenant- colonel and above.
These sources suggested Israeli officials were initially planning to use the pagers as a surprise opening blow in an all-out war. Other analysts are suggesting that this attack was a preventative strike following intelligence that Hezbollah intended to escalate the conflict between Israel and Lebanon on the northern border.
Branding from Taiwanese manufacturing company Gold Apollo was found on the compromised devices. Most of them were the company’s AR924 model, though three other models were included in the shipment. Founder and President Hsu Ching-Kuang has said production was outsourced to the firm BAC Consulting, which has an address in Budapest.
Taiwan has no record of Gold Apollo pagers being shipped to Lebanon, according to preliminary investigations by its Ministry of Economic Affairs.