The attack against the terrorist organization Hezbollah which took place this Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria It was carried out through a beeper or pager model of the brand Gold Apollohe AR924. 5,000 devices of this model were seizedin a sophisticated operation that the Lebanese government, Hezbollah and numerous media outlets attribute to the Mossadthe intelligence agency of Israelto modify them before their distribution among members of the terrorist group.
According to the New York Times, each of the AR924s purchased by Hezbollah It carried a small explosive charge, weighing between 28 and 56 grams.which exploded after a message sent to all devices at 3:30 p.m. local time overheated the battery to trigger the detonation. According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, the explosions have caused 12 deadtwo of them minors, and some 2,800 injured, 300 of them in critical condition.
Footage of communication pagers worn by Hezbollah members exploding across Lebanon.
Unprecedented incident. https://t.co/gf37usZrxCpic.twitter.com/5VNZKzxEbi
— Faytuks News (@Faytuks) September 17, 2024
According to Skynews Arabia, the explosive that the Mossad would have used would be PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate). This is a high-powered explosive that can cause significant damage in small quantities. It is part of the group of explosives known as organic nitrates and It has greater power than TNT.
“Exclusive sources for Sky News Arabia: Mossad placed a quantity of highly explosive PETN on the devices’ battery and detonated it by raising the battery’s temperature.” https://t.co/Li5LoSBSOz
— Evergreen Intel (@vcdgf555) September 17, 2024
The AR924 beeper
A beeper or pager, pager or pager is a device that uses radio wave transmission technology to receive short text messages. They were very popular in the 1980s and 1990s, before mobile phones became widely used. Hezbollah had ordered its members to use this pager instead of mobile phones. avoid being tracked by Israeli intelligence.
The AR924 is branded by Gold Apollo, which yesterday suspended the AR924 product page on its website. In a statement, the Taiwan-based company said: is not the manufacturer of the AR924but it is produced by a company called BACbased in Budapestto which licensed its brand and is also responsible for its sale. Gold Apollo President, Hsu Ching-kuangexplained that “The pagers involved in the explosions had been on the market for less than two years“, the time they have been collaborating with BAC.
Although Gold Apollo has removed the information about the AR924 from its website, it is still accessible through Google’s cache. So we can tell that it is a one-way beeper —only receives messages, does not send them— alphanumeric and “ruggedized”; that is, Designed to be resistant to shocks and falls: It can support them up to 1.5 meters high and the USB-C connector for power and computer connection can be sealed. It has certification IP67 against liquids and dust and incorporates a replaceable lithium batterylike the vibration motor, whose capacity is not specified, but it does offer a duration of up to 85 days.
The AR924 is a very compact device, like all pagers, with dimensions of 73mm x 50mm x 27mm and a weight of 95 grams. It has a screen LCD with a resolution of 146 x 64 pixels with lighting LEDspace for 4 lines, and its data transmission rate is up to 2,400 bps, bits per second, by POCSAG; this is an asynchronous protocol used to transmit them to pagers. It is equipped with 4 buttons with bidirectional scrolling and can store Up to 30 messages with a maximum length of 100 characters each.