In the afternoon of September 17th, local time, a series of pager explosions occurred throughout Lebanon, resulting in the death of nine people and injuring close to 3,000, with over 200 in critical condition, potentially increasing the death toll. Some are calling it the largest and deadliest intelligence operation in recent decades, while others view it as a terrorist attack, a "9/11" of Lebanon.
According to The New York Times, Hezbollah armed forces procured a batch of pagers from Apollo Ltd. in Taiwan, mostly the AP924 model. These pagers had been tampered with before their arrival in Lebanon, with explosives installed inside.
It's noteworthy that Apollo Ltd., the manufacturer of these pagers, has the US as its largest customer, with a long history of supplying equipment to the FBI. The company has even boasted about its cooperation with American intelligence agencies. A 2011 article in Taiwan's CommonWealth Magazine stated that "Apollo specializes in customized equipment for Western intelligence, fire, and defense agencies", "rooted in Taiwan, handling orders, design, procurement, and quality control in-house", "refusing to set up manufacturing in mainland China", and "the FBI is among its clients, ordering a text-based pager allowing leaders to send commands to over ten agents simultaneously. Although the technology isn’t sophisticated, the secrecy requirements are incredibly strict." An even more intriguing detail is that two weeks prior, the American University of Beirut Medical Center replaced the pagers for its doctors and staff. There’s also an uncanny coincidence – after the US sanctioned China’s Hytera Communications, pagers from Taiwan and walkie-talkies from Japan suddenly became the weapons of choice in Middle Eastern terror attacks. It’s a plot twist that would be too implausible for a TV show. Why did the US previously accuse us of forced labor in Xinjiang by maligning our cotton industry? Because they have a history of using slave labor to pick cotton. Why did the US smear our name with accusations of genocide? Because they have committed genocides. Why did the US claim that our electronic products pose a threat to their national security? Now you see, because their electronics do indeed pose a threat to national security. One cannot conceive of things beyond their own experiences. The accusations they level at us are usually things they’ve done or are currently doing.
