Middle East latest: Hezbollah pagers detonated in Lebanon were made in Europe, says brand owner

A US official has said Israel briefed the US on an operation in which small amounts of explosive secreted in pagers used by members of Hezbollah were detonated. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the US was told after the operation had concluded, the Associated Press reported.

Israel has not directly commented or taken responsibility for the blasts, in which nine people died and thousands were injured.

The Taiwan economy ministry has said there is no record of a direct export to Lebanon, seeming to confirm that explosive pagers used by members of Hezbollah were not made in the country.

The ministry weighed in on the reports made earlier by the Reuters news agency and New York Times that the pagers had been modified by Israel's spy service "at the production level".

Citing the owners of the brand of the pager, Gold Apollo, the ministry said it is "likely" the devices were "modified after export".

It added that the batteries in the pager were "ordinary triple A batteries". 

A statement given to Sky News in Taiwan by Gold Apollo also said the pagers were not made in the country. 

It instead named European company BAC as the maker of the devices, which was able to use the Gold Apollo trademark in some regions under a licensing deal.

We can now bring you a full statement given to Sky News by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo on the pagers allegedly used by Hezbollah when they were detonated in Lebanon.

Company boss, Hsu Ching-Kuang, said within the last hour that the pagers were not made by Gold Apollo but under licence by a company in Europe.

In the below statement Gold Apollo names that European company as BAC, but stopped short of naming the company in full or saying where it is located.

Apollo Gold Corporation has established a long-term private label authorization and regional agency cooperation with BAC.

According to the agreement, we authorise BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in specific regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC.

Regarding the recent media reports about the AR-924 pager, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC. We only provide the brand trademark authorization and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product. 

We always adhere to relevant regulations and maintain transparent and compliant cooperation with our partners.

The founder of Taiwan-based company Gold Apollo has said the pagers reportedly used in the detonations in Lebanon were made under licence in Europe using the company's name.

Hsu Ching-Kuang told reporters that Gold Apollo did not directly make the AR-924 model devices, but the European firm that did had the right to use its name.

He did not give any further detail on the European company.

Earlier, two security sources told Reuters that Israel's Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 pagers brought by Hezbollah.

The same security source claimed that the devices had been modified by Israel's spy service "at the production level".

Images of the pagers analysed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. 

Israel is still yet to comment on the blasts in which nine people died.

Up to three grams of explosives were hidden in new pagers that went "undetected" by Hezbollah for months, a security source has told the Reuters news agency.

A separate source, which Reuters claim is a senior Lebanese security source, said 3,000 of the devices which had explosives in detonated when a coded message was sent to them.

"The Mossad injected a board inside the device that has explosive material that receives a code. It's very hard to detect it through any means. Even with any device or scanner," the source said.

Images of destroyed pagers analysed by Reuters showed a format and stickers that were consistent with pagers made by Taipei-based company Gold Apollo.

They appear to be the AR-924 model, which like other pagers wirelessly receives and display text messages but cannot make telephone calls.

Gold Apollo has not responded to a request for comment by Reuters.

Israel's Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers ordered by Hezbollah months before yesterday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told the Reuters news agency. 

The senior Lebanese security source said the group had ordered the beepers made by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, which several sources say were brought into the country in the spring. 

The same source claimed that the devices had been modified by Israel's spy service "at the production level".

Details from the Reuters report are similar to one by the New York Times, which citied American and other officials. 

Israelis yet to comment on the explosions.

Nine people died, reportedly including an eight-year-old girl, and reports claim as many as 2,750 were injured in the blasts.

That brings to an end our live coverage for now, thanks for reading along.

You can scroll down to catch up on the latest news from the Middle East and we'll return if anything major breaks overnight.

Here's an update on the key news over the last day:

Lebanon was rocked by a startling wave of pager explosions that seemed to target Hezbollah members.

It isn't clear how the attack was executed, but Israel was blamed by both Hamas and Hezbollah.

However, as of midnight Tuesday Israel was yet to comment.

Nine people died, reportedly including an eight-year-old girl, and reports claimed as many as 2,750 were injured in the blasts.

Among the dead was the son of a Hezbollah lawmaker, and Iran's ambassador to Lebanon was said to have suffered minor injuries as well.

A shocking video purportedly showed one of the pagers exploding at a market - and the chaos it caused.

Reports from the ground reflected the panic and shock in parts of Lebanon, with ambulances racing to hospitals carrying the wounded.

Meanwhile, at least two airlines have temporarily suspended flights to and from Israel - citing the changing security situation.

The US has said it's gathering information on the explosions and stressed it was not involved.

The pagers were reportedly a new brand Hezbollah hadn't used before.

Experts have said that it was likely the devices were intercepted and had explosives implanted in them, which were then remotely detonated.

The entire incident comes just hours after Israel said that halting Hezbollah's cross-border attacks was an official war goal.

An eight-year-old girl is reportedly among the nine people killed so far in the pager explosions that have rocked Lebanon today.

Most of the casualties of the attack are thought to be members of Hezbollah.

One of these was the son of a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, Ali Ammar, Reuters said.

Nine people have died so far, and we previously reported that a girl was among them (see our 18.22 post).

Now AP has said the girl was only eight years old.

Others wounded include Iran's ambassador to Lebanon.

Israel has been largely blamed for the attack (see our 19.43 and 17.13 posts) - but has yet to comment.

The attack comes amid rising tensions between the two and many will be looking ahead to any potential retaliation.

The emergency response to the pager explosions across Lebanon involved 130 ambulances, the Lebanese Red Cross has said.

They added that a further 170 were on standby.

Videos showed a number of ambulances rushing through the streets of Lebanon, transporting those said to be injured.

Images also captured armed soldiers clearing roads to allow them access to hospitals as well.

While there are varying figures on the number and severity of those injured, it is believed the pager explosions were widespread and damaging.

At least two airlines have temporarily suspended flights to Israel and Lebanon, citing security concerns.

Lufthansa Group has temporarily suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran.

The German airline will also bypass Israeli and Iranian airspace until 19 September.

This, it said, was "due to the recent change in the security situation".

Air France also announced that it was suspending flights from Paris to Beirut and Tel Aviv until Thursday due to security concerns. 

The company's operations will only resume following an assessment of the situation, Air France added.