The explosion of hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members across Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, followed by a second wave of electronic devices the next day, remains shrouded in mystery even as experts say the deadly blasts were sophisticated attacks likely planned for months.
The twin bombings killed 37 people, including at least two children, and injured more than 3,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
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James Bond-style supply chain intrusion
Experts say the sophistication of the pager bombings suggests months of long-term planning. They believe the supply chain was penetrated and hundreds of pagers were planted with explosives before being imported into Lebanon, but so far there has been little evidence.
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Mourners carry a coffin during a funeral procession for a victim who died Tuesday in a pager explosion in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussain)
Few details are known about what may have brought about the second wave of electronic equipment, which included walkie-talkies and solar-powered devices, Hezbollah officials said.
Where did pagers originate?
The operation's trail spread across the globe, from Taiwan to Budapest, with the device eventually being traced to Lebanon.
Taiwanese pager company Gold Apollo has announced that the AR-924 pager brand is licensed to Hungary-based BAC Consulting KFT Ltd. Gold Apollo claims it was not involved in the manufacture of the device, which is manufactured and sold by BAC.
This photo shows a house in Budapest on Wednesday where a Hungarian company believed to have made the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria is headquartered. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said it had no record of directly exporting Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon, and a Hungarian government spokesman later added that the pagers never made it to Hungary, noting that BAC merely acted as an intermediary.
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The walkie-talkie that exploded on Wednesday was a counterfeit product made by Icom, a Japanese walkie-talkie maker, but not made by the company, a sales executive at Icom's U.S. subsidiary told The Associated Press.
The video shows a walkie-talkie exploding inside a house in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, on Wednesday. (AP Photo)
Why did Hezbollah use pagers?
Hezbollah has long used pagers to communicate, but the group's leaders recently called on its members to stop using mobile phones altogether, citing concerns that Israeli intelligence could track them.
Lebanese army soldiers gather outside a mobile phone shop in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon on Wednesday after damage apparently caused by an explosion of a walkie-talkie inside the store. (AP Photo/Mohamed Zaatari)
Pager technology is simpler than mobile phones and reduces the risk of communications being intercepted.
Israel is responsible for the explosion
Both attacks are widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.
Hezbollah and Lebanon were quick to condemn Israel after Tuesday's explosion, and on Wednesday a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that Israel was behind the pager explosion.
Experts say the pager operation was likely carried out by Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, which has a global reputation as one of the most feared spy agencies.
The US denies any involvement or knowledge of the attack
U.S. officials have denied that the United States had any involvement or knowledge of such attacks before the two blasts.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the United States was “not aware of and had no involvement in these events.”
But the explosion deepened fears of an escalation into all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.
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“We continue to gather information and facts at this time. Broadly speaking, we have been and continue to be very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any actions that could further escalate the conflict that we are trying to resolve in Gaza,” Blinken said. “It is clearly not in the interest of any of the parties involved to see it spread to other fronts. That's why it's essential that all parties refrain from any actions that could escalate the conflict.”
Fox News Digital's Benjamin Weinthal and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
