Source: Al Arabiya
Security & Justice
State Action Signals Change in Tackling Longstanding Illegal Land Grabs in Jbeil District
For years, the serene villages of Jbeil's highlands have been far from peaceful. Ghabat, a Maronite village nestled between the predominantly Shiite towns of Afqa and Lassa, has become a focal point of growing tensions due to territorial disputes.
Friday, December 20, 2024
Mawlawi Ensures Strict Monitoring for Wanted Syrian Regime Figures at Beirut Airport
Caretaker Minister of Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, conducted an inspection tour of Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut to review the security arrangements and measures implemented by the Airport Security Apparatus ahead of the holiday season.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Opinion
Lebanon After the Assads
The United States has important equities in Lebanon, including a desire for a generally friendly government’s economic and political stability; security cooperation; long-standing relations with the large Christian community in Lebanon and Lebanese diaspora in the United States; and ultimately peace between Israel and Lebanon within a broader regional settlement. Achieving these objectives will require navigating a tumultuous period in the country’s history following a war between Hezbollah and Israel that has devastated a large part of the country, exacerbating Lebanon’s already challenging economic conditions. But perhaps the most important dynamic will be how a likely Sunni-dominated state of uncertain composition in Syria will differ in its intentions toward Lebanon from the previous Alawite-led minoritarian Assad regime.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Europe’s Syrian Dilemma
The news of the sudden and unexpected demise of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has met a mixed response in Europe. The jubilation that a murderous dictator and close ally of Russia and Iran has fallen is not just good for the Syrian people but serves as a morale booster for Eastern Europeans wondering whether Russia can be defeated
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Sports
Cristiano Ronaldo Unveils New Private Jet Worth $73 Million
Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the richest global athletes, has unveiled his upgraded private jet reportedly worth $73 million. With its top-notch design, exceptional speed and range of 7500 nautical miles, the Gulfstream G650 is among the fastest jets in the world.
Monday, December 16, 2024
Guardiola Accepts Man City May Need to Sign More Players to Cope with Schedule
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes he will need a bigger squad to handle soccer’s ever-expanding fixture schedule.
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Wednesday 18 September 2024 15:21:56
How Did Hezbollah Exploding Pagers Lead to a Budapest-Based Company?
When a simultaneous explosion of pagers targeting Hezbollah members took off across Lebanon on Tuesday little was it clear that the incident would lead to an investigative path from Taiwan to Hungary.
The incident, which took Lebanon off guard, marked one of the serious breaches faced by the Iran-backed party that has been engaged in border attacks against Israel amid the ongoing Gaza war.
Hezbollah blamed Israel for detonating the pagers with media reports suggesting that Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside the thousands of pagers that Hezbollah imported.
What does Taiwan have to do with the incident?
After the explosions took place, killing 12 people and wounding between 2,750 and 2,800 others, the pagers were linked to Taiwanese company Gold Apollo.
Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by the company.
In response to the news, Gold Apollo founder and president, Hsu Ching-kuang, said on Wednesday that the product wasn’t theirs and “only that it had our brand on it.”
The Taiwanese economy ministry said that it has no record of any Taiwanese companies exporting pagers directly to Lebanon between 2022 and 2024, according to NPR.
From Lebanon to Taiwan to Hungary: How did this happen?
Hsu explained that a Budapest-based company called BAC Consulting has manufactured the devices. Gold Apollo also noted that the AR-924 model was produced and sold by BAC.
“There was nothing in those devices that we had manufactured or exported to them [BAC],” Hsu was quoted by NPR as saying. He noted that the pagers “were entirely different” from his designs and contained a chip that Gold Apollo does not use in its pagers, according to NPR.
The outlet added that Hsu said that the last time Gold Apollo shipped components to BAC was earlier this year.
What is BAC Consulting?
The stated address for BAC Consulting in Budapest was a peach building in a mostly residential street in an outer suburb. Footage released by The Associated Press showed the company’s name posted on the glass door on a sheet in what appeared to look more like a residential building.
The company’s website has appeared to be inaccessible since the morning, but the company’s CEO has been revealed to be Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono.
Her LinkedIn profile says that among the posts that she has occupied was working as a strategic advisor for various organizations including UNESCO and Venture Capitals.
BAC didn’t respond to Al Arabiya English’s calls for comment, but Barsony-Arcidiacono was quoted by Sky News as saying that she doesn’t “make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong.”
Middle East payments
According to both Reuters and NPR, Hsu said on Wednesday that he did find the payment transfers made to his company to be “strange.”
Although based in Budapest, Hsu, according to NPR, said the company paid Gold Apollo from a Middle Eastern bank account that was blocked at least once by the company’s bank in Taiwan.
