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Dewey Sim

Zhang Tong

The deadly pager explosions in Lebanon could prompt increased caution in China about the weaponisation of electric products, analysts have said.
On Tuesday, handheld pagers simultaneously blew up in parts of Lebanon and Syria wounding several thousand people and killing 12, including two children.
Among those injured were Hezbollah fighters and Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel for the attack, while Iran has condemned “Israeli terrorism”. Meanwhile Hamas called the blasts an “escalation” that would only lead Israel to “failure and defeat”.
A New York Times report, citing American and other officials, said that Israel had hidden explosive material in a batch of pagers made by Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo before they were imported to Lebanon.
According to the report, the explosive material was implanted next to the battery, with an embedded switch that could be triggered remotely.
Some 5,000 pagers were ordered from Gold Apollo and distributed to Hezbollah members throughout Lebanon, Reuters reported.
The New York Times said the pagers had received a message that appeared to come from Hezbollah’s leadership, which then triggered the blasts.
Other reports, suggesting the operation was a joint effort between Israel’s intelligence service and its military, said that the pagers were acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader limited the use of mobile phones in February, warning they could be vulnerable to Israeli surveillance.

Gold Apollo has denied that it manufactured the pagers that blew up in Lebanon, adding that they were produced and sold by a firm called BAC, which is based in Hungary and has a licence to use its brand.
“We only provide brand trademark authorisation and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product,” the company said.
Hsu Ching-kuang, founder of Gold Apollo, told the media in New Taipei City on Wednesday that he “is considering legal action against BAC”.
Muhammad Faizal Abdul Rahman, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said the explosions show that “Israel has the ability to use digital means and covert connections in global supply chains to strike deep within the stronghold of its adversaries”.
He added: “Unconventional yet ingenious, this is a recent example of a blend of digital and kinetic tactics that turns common communications devices into [improvised explosive devices] instead of the usual surveillance purpose.”
He also said mainland China would possibly view electronic and communications products made by the US and its allies – including Taiwan – with greater suspicion.
“There could be hawkish elements in China who assume that Taiwan, as a close ally of the US who in turn is a close ally of Israel, is somehow complicit in this cloak and dagger operation. China might cast an even more wary eye on other Taiwanese industries,” he said.
“At the strategic level, it suggests that military and intelligence agencies of major powers and their powerful allies could exploit or weaponise global supply chains to pre-position tools of asymmetric warfare that would be activated during times of conflict or when the objectives of war changes.”
Dov Levin, associate professor of international relations at the University of Hong Kong, said Israeli intelligence had used a similar method to kill senior Hamas bomb maker Yahya Ayyash in the 1990s, but this time around it had been done on a much larger scale.
Levin said one key question about the incident was when and how these explosives were planted in the pagers, such as whether it was done in the Taiwanese factory, in the shipping process to Lebanon, or in Lebanon after the pagers had arrived.


“In general, the farther away the implantation of the explosives was in the supply chain process from the Taiwanese manufacturer and the closer it was to the eventual customer (for example the Hezbollah), the less significant it will be,” he said.
Francesco Mancini, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said many questions remained to be clarified, but he described the weaponising of devices as “extremely worrying” – not only for China but for all countries.
“It is another step in the direction of ‘automated warfare’ in which technology plays a fundamental role, not only weaponising devices but developing systems that allow [the triggering of] explosions via messaging remotely,” Mancini said.
“It shows how much investment Israel has done in advancing its technological warfare capacity, and it can trigger thoughts that Israel is not alone in this and other countries, including China and the US, could have such technology at disposal.”
Tang Wei, chief marketing officer of Chinese antivirus software company Rising, said the pagers’ batteries could have been remotely controlled to overheat.
“According to information on the internet, the pagers used ultrasonic welding technology, which shows that the forces planning this attack have mature processing technology and can avoid being discovered after modifying the equipment,” he said.
Tang said for most people the risk of explosion caused by a hacked mobile phone or car system was still “very small” as hackers needed to break through a complex battery protection system to do so.
Most of China’s smartphones and new energy vehicles have the “highest level of battery protection … so ordinary people don’t have to worry about battery explosions when using big-brand cars and phones”.

But Tang suggested that the risk could be higher for other battery-powered devices such as high-intensity flashlights and headlamps.
As these products do not resemble a smart device, “once someone has tampered with them in advance and installed a SIM card for remote control, the probability of risk is even higher”, he said.
“I feel that implanting bombs is easy to detect, while the means of hacking into systems are more sophisticated and technically more complex.”
Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military analyst, told state broadcaster CCTV that the pagers must have been tampered with in advance.
“Once Hezbollah determines that Israel is the mastermind behind this incident, the conflict between Lebanon and Israel will continue to escalate,” he warned.
Additional reporting by Lawrence Chung


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China-Middle East relations

Lebanon pager blasts expected to prompt greater caution in China about electronic devices

Thousands of people were injured in the blasts, including Hezbollah fighters. Photo: Reuters 

Pagers are seen on display at a meeting room at the Gold Apollo company building in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

People react near an ambulance as the wounded are brought to a hospital in Beirut following the attack. Photo: AFP

Hezbollah vows to punish Israel after pager blasts kill 9, injure thousands across Lebanon

Civil Defense first-responders carry a wounded man whose handheld pager exploded at al-Zahraa hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 17. Photo: AP

 A man falls to the floor (left) after an explosion at an indoor vegetable market in Beirut. Photo: AFP

Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, Ali Ammar, accepts condolences for his son who was killed. Photo: Reuters

Scenes outside American University of Beirut Medical Centre in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters

Israel’s Mossad planted explosives in 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanon’s Hezbollah: sources

A man’s bag explodes in a supermarket in Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday. Photo: Social media via Reuters 

A man falls to the floor (left) after an explosion at an indoor vegetable market in Beirut on Tuesday. Photo: AFP


The stated address for BAC Consulting in Budapest, Hungary. Photo: Reuters

Israel widens focus of Gaza war to include Lebanon front against Hezbollah

A damaged residential building in Nahariya, northern Israel, after a projectiles attack from Lebanon. Photo: Reuters

Interceptions of rockets launched from Lebanon at Israel over the border. Photo: Reuters

A shell fired from Israel explodes over the southern Lebanese border village of Khiam. Photo: AFP

The aftermath of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

News

China

Diplomacy

The blasts targeting Hezbollah members show how supply chains could be weaponised, according to analysts


The blasts targeting Hezbollah members show how supply chains could be weaponised, according to analysts.


Israel

Middle East

Lebanon