"Hungarian Company, Israel's Ghost Company"
"Established Before Hezbollah Beeper Was Fully Used"
A claim has emerged that the Hungarian subcontracted manufacturer of the wireless pagers (beepers) that exploded simultaneously across Lebanon, causing massive casualties, is actually a paper company (shell company) established by Israel years ago for an operation to eliminate Hezbollah. Hezbollah operatives began using the pagers extensively after Hamas's invasion of Israel in October last year, but Israeli authorities had been preparing attack operations anticipating Hezbollah's use of pagers long before that.
On the 18th (local time), the US daily The New York Times (NYT) reported, citing three Israeli intelligence officials, that the Hungarian subcontracted manufacturer of the bomb pagers, 'BAC Consulting,' is a shell company established by Israeli intelligence for security operations. The previous day in Lebanon, thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously around Hezbollah strongholds, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 3,000. Most of the casualties were Hezbollah members, but four of the deceased were children.
The bomb pagers bore the trademark of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. In response, Gold Apollo's Chairman Xu Qingguang stated that the devices were manufactured by the Hungarian company 'BAC Consulting,' and that his company had only licensed the use of its trademark. The Hungarian government also emphasized that BAC Consulting is merely a trade brokerage company without manufacturing facilities in the country and is unrelated to this matter, increasing curiosity about BAC Consulting's true identity.
According to the NYT, BAC Consulting sold pagers to general customers as well, but was actually established with the goal of assassinating Hezbollah members. When Hezbollah placed orders, products with batteries containing the powerful explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) were specially produced and sold. To achieve this purpose, at least two additional paper companies were established besides BAC Consulting, and it is known that small quantities of bomb pagers were supplied to Hezbollah in the summer of 2022.
Hezbollah's supreme leader Hassan Nasrallah encouraged operatives to use pagers after Hamas's invasion of Israel in October last year. This was due to concerns that mobile phones could expose their locations, leading to operational exposure or assassination by Israel. Consequently, the demand for pagers among Hezbollah operatives surged. Hezbollah imported thousands of additional pagers this summer, many of which are believed to have concealed explosives. The NYT reported, "Israel established a shell company pretending to be a pager manufacturer even before Nasrallah encouraged the expanded use of pagers among operatives."
The day after the pager explosions, portable radios used by Hezbollah also exploded in succession in the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon's capital, killing an additional 20 people and injuring more than 450. It is suspected that Israel conducted similar operations on other communication devices besides the wireless pagers. The NYT explained, "The second explosion confirmed the lesson of the previous day to the Lebanese people. They now live in a world where even the most common communication devices can turn into instruments of death."
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