Misinformation fuels uncertainty, fear after pager explosion
Twelve people, including two children and health workers, were killed and about 2,800 others were injured, including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when exploded Wireless pagers carried by Hezbollah members in several areas of Lebanon in an unprecedented attack for which the Lebanese state and Hezbollah hold Israel responsible.
In the first hours of the event, a state of uncertainty and shock prevailed in the Lebanese street, and the situation seemed fertile ground for the circulation of false and misleading information, especially on social media.
Among the information that has been circulated and has raised citizens’ concerns is the possibility of solar panels exploding, especially those connected to the Internet, which are in fact widespread throughout the country.
As a result, there were many unreliable voices and opinions advising to disconnect it from the Internet and electricity to avoid any explosion.
In parallel, false information also spread about the possibility of repeating the pager scene on smart watches, and advice was distributed on WhatsApp groups to dispense with them at the present time and stay away from them.
This information turned out to be inaccurate and far from reality, as evidenced by the demolition of any recording of an incident related to what was circulated, and the explosions were limited to Pagers devices supplied to Hezbollah members.
What about medical staff?
Among the false news that spread like wildfire on Tuesday was an audio recording that a well-known hospital in the capital Beirut had withdrawn pagers from doctors and nurses in the period leading up to the event in order to update or repair them, suggesting that this hospital had prior information from certain sources.
But the hospital issued a statement responding to what it described as “rumors and conspiracy theories,” explaining that the administration worked on “upgrading the infrastructure of the paging system in April 2024, and accordingly the new system was operational on August 29, 2024.”
“The scope of this upgrade was to enhance emergency and symbolic communications, as many devices and systems were becoming obsolete,” he said.
He recalled that this news comes “at a critical time when doctors, nurses and staff of the hospital’s medical center in Beirut are fully mobilized to deal with the consequences of injuries” resulting from the explosion of the pager parts.
Feedback
Washington was quick to deny any “involvement” or “knowledge” of the explosions in advance, and urged Tehran to avoid escalation.
“I can tell you that the United States was not involved, was not aware of this incident in advance, and at this point we are gathering information,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP that “the pagers that exploded arrived via a shipment recently imported by Hezbollah containing a thousand devices,” and that it appears that they “were hacked from the source.”
Hundreds of wounded among the elements #Hezbollah After the explosion of the communication devices they were carrying.. and sources suggest that the incident was an “Israeli breach”#News_Now #Lebanon #Beirut #Israel pic.twitter.com/vOZWIKI1ti
– Akhbar Al Aan News Now (@akhbar) September 17, 2024
Taiwanese company Gold Apollo announced that the communication devices were manufactured by its Hungarian partner.
The company said in a statement that it has a “long-term partnership” with Budapest-based BAC to use its brand, adding that the model in media reports is “manufactured and sold by BAC,” after a New York Times report that the devices came from the Taiwanese company.
The newspaper added that Israel tampered with these devices before they reached Lebanon by planting a small amount of explosives inside each one.
“In order for Israel to be able to hide an explosive trigger in the new shipment of pagers, it likely needed access to the supply chain for these devices,” Brussels-based military and security analyst Elijah Manier told AFP.
The analyst suggested that “Israeli intelligence may have infiltrated the production process and added an explosive component and a remote-operation mechanism to the pagers, without raising suspicion.”
He added that this raises the possibility that the third party that sold these devices is an “intelligence front” created by Israel For this purpose.
