Israel didn’t tamper with Hezbollah’s exploding pagers, it made them – New York Times
Israeli spies are behind Hungarian firm BAC Consulting that supplied the devices, NYT reports; other shell companies mask ownership; Bulgaria probing another firm linked to saga
A report Thursday alleged that a Hungarian firm that apparently supplied pagers used by Hezbollah was secretly set up by Israeli spies as part of a widescale operation that appeared to culminate this week when the devices exploded, killing several and maiming thousands of Hezbollah operatives and others in Lebanon and Syria.
The New York Times claimed that rather than merely managing to tamper with the devices at some stage of their production or distribution, Israel actually “manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse.”
The report was the latest to seemingly pull the covers back on what is widely believed to have been a secret Israeli operation that burst into the open Tuesday as thousands of devices blew up in Hezbollah strongholds.
Then on Wednesday, hundreds of walkie-talkies used by the group exploded as well, sowing fresh fears across Lebanon and underlining how much remains unknown about the apparent plot.
Citing three unnamed intelligence officers with knowledge of the operation, The New York Times reported that BAC Consulting was part of a front set up by figures in Israeli intelligence.
Two other shell companies were also created to help mask the link between BAC and the Israelis, according to the report.
The company was listed in Hungary as a limited liability company in May 2022, though a website for BAC Consulting was officially registered almost two years earlier, in October 2020, according to internet domain records.
As of April 2021, the company website offered political and business consulting, with the firm changing addresses and expanding its offerings at least three times by 2024, archival research by The Times of Israel showed.
According to the New York Times, the company supplied other firms with pagers as well, though only the ones transferred to Hezbollah were fitted with batteries that contained explosive materiel known as PETN.
The devices first began to reach Lebanon in 2022, according to the newspaper, with production ramping up as Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah denounced the use of cellphones due to concerns they could be tracked by Israel.
“The phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent… Bury it. Put it in an iron box and lock it,” Nasrallah told supporters in February, the New York Times report noted, and it added: “Israeli intelligence officials saw an opportunity.”
As Hezbollah increasingly relied on the explosive-laced devices, Israeli intelligence officers saw them as “buttons” that could be pressed at any time, setting off the explosions that rocked Lebanon Tuesday, according to the Times.
The pagers that exploded in Lebanon carried the logo of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo, which said BAC was authorized to use its branding. However it said “the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC.”
BAC’s listed CEO, Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, told NBC news that the firm, which took its website down Wednesday, had nothing to do with manufacturing the pagers.
“I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong,” she told the US network Wednesday.
A Hungarian government spokesman also said the pagers had never been in Hungary and that BAC Consultants merely acted as an intermediary.
“Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary. It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary,” Zoltán Kovács posted Wednesday on X. He did not say where the pagers were manufactured.
Bulgaria, meanwhile, said it would investigate a third company linked to the sale of the pagers. The DANS state security agency said in a statement that it was working with the interior ministry to probe the role of a company registered in Bulgaria, without naming it.
Bulgarian media reports alleged that a Sofia-based company called Norta Global Ltd had facilitated the sale of the pagers. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm the link to Norta, and company officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer that registered the company at an apartment block in Sofia did not respond to Reuters questions.
Israel has declined to comment on either the pager or the walkie-talkie explosions.
Lebanese authorities said 12 people were killed and nearly 3,000 injured by the pager blasts, which seemingly targeted Hezbollah but also left many who happened to be in their vicinity wounded. At least 20 people were killed and hundreds more injured in Wednesday’s exploding walkie-talkies, which appeared to have contained larger explosives.
Images of the exploded walkie-talkies showed labels bearing the name of Japanese radio communications and telephone company ICOM 6208.T and resembled the firm’s model IC-V82 device.
The company, which says it manufactures all of its radios in Japan, said Thursday the model was manufactured and shipped to the Middle East from 2004 to 2014, but had not been shipped by the company since then. It said batteries for the devices were also no longer being manufactured.
The handheld radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time as the pagers, a security source said.
The Osaka-based firm said its radio products were all manufactured by a single subsidiary in Wakayama, using only its own parts, with no overseas production.
The company has previously warned about counterfeit versions of its devices circulating in the market, especially discontinued models.
“A hologram seal to distinguish counterfeit products was not attached, so it is not possible to confirm whether the product shipped from our company,” it said, referring to the devices that exploded Wednesday.
It promised to offer more information as it investigated.
Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the explosions, vowing revenge. Nasrallah was slated to deliver a statement later Thursday. Anonymous US officials have told foreign media outlets that Israeli agencies were behind the assault.
The twin waves of explosions heightened fears that Israel and Hezbollah could be nearing all-out war, after nearly a year of limited cross-border skirmishes that have forced civilians to flee northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
Israeli leaders have issued a series of warnings in recent weeks that they might increase operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying they must be able to restore security and allow residents to return to their homes near the border.
Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson.
Speaking to troops on Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was “at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance.”
He made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying “the results are very impressive.”
During a visit to the Northern Command on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi warned cryptically that Israel has more it can do against Hezbollah.
“We have many capabilities that we have not yet employed,” he said. “We have seen some of these [capabilities in use]. It seems to me that we are well prepared and we are preparing these plans going forward.”
