Second wave of explosions hits Lebanon a day after pager attack, killing at least 9

BEIRUT (AP) — Explosions have struck Beirut and several parts of Lebanon in what appears to be a second wave of electronics blasts, Hezbollah officials and state media reported Wednesday, with walkie-talkies and even solar equipment exploding a day after hundreds of pagers went off. At least one person was killed and more than 100 others were injured, the Health Ministry said.

Several explosions were heard at the funeral in Beirut of three Hezbollah members and a child killed the day before by pager explosions, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene. An AP photographer in the southern coastal city of Saida saw a car and a cellphone store damaged by devices inside.

A Hezbollah official told the AP that walkie-talkies used by the group had exploded. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Lebanon’s official news agency reported that solar power systems exploded in homes in several neighborhoods in Beirut and southern Lebanon, injuring at least one girl.

The new explosions hit a country still reeling from confusion and anger after Tuesday’s attacks, which appeared to be a complex Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members and also left civilians dead. At least 12 people were killed, including two children, and some 2,800 people were injured when hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members began exploding wherever they were found – in homes, cars, grocery stores and cafes.

In the first wave of attacks, small quantities of explosives appear to have been hidden in the thousands of pagers delivered to Hezbollah and detonated remotely. Reports of other electronic device explosions suggest an even greater infiltration of booby traps into Lebanon’s supply chain. This also heightens concerns about attacks in which hundreds of explosions have taken place in public places, often in the presence of many bystanders, with no clear indication of who possessed the rigged devices.

The attacks, which Israel has not commented on, have rekindled fears of an escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that could lead to open warfare. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States was still assessing the impact of the attack on negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, according to an official familiar with the movements who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire almost daily since October 8, the day after the war was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel. Since then, hundreds have been killed in strikes in Lebanon and dozens in Israel, while tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced. Hamas and Hezbollah are allies and both are backed by Iran. Israeli leaders have issued a series of warnings in recent weeks about a possible escalation of operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying they must halt the exchanges to allow residents to return to their homes near the border.

New details about the operation have begun to emerge. A U.S. official said Israel briefed the United States after the attack, in which small amounts of explosives were planted in the pagers. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the information publicly.

The pagers were made by a Hungary-based company, another company said Wednesday.

The AR-924 pagers used in Tuesday’s attack were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in the Hungarian capital Budapest, according to a statement released by Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company that licensed its brand name for use on the pagers.

Gold Apollo Chairman Hsu Ching-kuang told reporters on Wednesday that the company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for three years.

“Under the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our trademark for the sale of products in the designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products is the sole responsibility of BAC,” Gold Apollo said in a statement.

According to its records, BAC Consulting Kft. was registered as a limited liability company in May 2022. It has a share capital of EUR 7,840, according to the records, and had a turnover of $725,768 in 2022 and $593,972 in 2023.

At the headquarters of a building in a residential area of ​​Budapest, the names of several companies, including BAC Consulting, are displayed on pieces of paper placed on a window.

A woman who exited the building and declined to give her name said the site provides the addresses of various companies’ headquarters.

BAC’s parent company is registered to Cristiana Rosaria Bársony-Arcidiacono, who describes herself on her LinkedIn page as a strategic advisor and business developer. Bársony-Arcidiacono lists on her page that she has served on the board of directors of the Earth Child Institute, a sustainability group. The group does not list Bársony-Arcidiacono as a board member on its website.

The Associated Press attempted to reach Bársony-Arcidiacono through her LinkedIn page and was unable to establish a connection between her or BAC and the exploded pagers.

The attack in Lebanon began Tuesday afternoon, when pagers in their owners’ hands or pockets began to heat up and then explode, leaving blood-spattered scenes and causing panic among passersby.

Most of those affected appeared to be members of or linked to Hezbollah — both fighters and civilians — but it was not immediately clear whether people unrelated to Hezbollah were also affected.

The Health Ministry said health workers and two children were among the dead. In the village of Nadi Sheet in the Bekaa Valley, dozens of people gathered to mourn the death of one of the children, Fatima Abdullah, 9.

Her mother, dressed in black and wearing a yellow Hezbollah headscarf, wept alongside other women and children gathered around the little girl’s coffin before her burial.

Hezbollah said in a statement Wednesday morning that it would continue its usual strikes against Israel as part of what it describes as a front in support of its ally, Hamas, and the Palestinians in Gaza.

“This path is continuous and distinct from the difficult judgment that the criminal enemy must await for his massacre on Tuesday,” he added. “It is another judgment that will come, God willing.”

In Beirut hospitals on Wednesday, the chaos of the previous night had largely subsided, but relatives of the wounded continued to wait.

Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad told reporters during a tour of hospitals Wednesday morning that many of the injured had serious eye injuries and others had amputated limbs. Journalists were not allowed to enter hospital rooms or film patients.

Abiad said the wounded were sent to different hospitals in the region to avoid any single facility being overloaded and added that Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Egypt have offered to help treat the patients.

Earlier on Wednesday, an Iraqi military plane landed in Beirut carrying 15 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies, he said.

Experts believe explosive materials were placed in the pagers before they were delivered.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications announced on Gold Apollo’s website before they were removed after the attack.

The battery life could be as long as 85 days. That would be crucial in Lebanon, where power outages are common after years of economic collapse. The pagers also operate on a different wireless network than cell phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one reason many hospitals around the world still use them.

For Hezbollah, the pagers also provided a way to circumvent what is seen as intensive Israeli electronic surveillance of mobile phone networks in Lebanon.

“The phone we have in our hands – I don’t have a phone in my hands – is a listening device,” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned in a speech in February.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, Gold Apollo exported 260,000 pagers between the beginning of 2022 and August 2024, including more than 40,000 between January and August this year. The ministry said it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon.

Spike reported from Budapest and Lai from Taipei, Taiwan. Associated Press writers Abby Sewell and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Simina Mistreanu in Taipei; Melanie Lidman and Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Zeke Miller in Washington; and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.