Tag: bombings

Exploding pagers and radios: A terrifying violation of international law, say UN experts

UN human rights experts* today condemned the malicious manipulation of thousands of electronic pagers and radios to explode simultaneously across Lebanon and Syria as “terrifying” violations of international law.

The attacks reportedly killed at least 32 people and maimed or injured 3,250, including 200 critically. Among the dead are a boy and a girl, as well as medical personnel. Around 500 people suffered severe eye injuries, including a diplomat. Others suffered grave injuries to their faces, hands and bodies.

“These attacks violate the human right to life, absent any indication that the victims posed an imminent lethal threat to anyone else at the time,” the experts said. “Such attacks require prompt, independent investigation to establish the truth and enable accountability for the crime of murder.

“We express our deepest solidarity to the victims of these attacks,” they said.

The pagers and radios were reportedly distributed mainly among people allegedly associated with the Hezbollah movement, which includes civilian and military personnel and is involved in an armed conflict with Israel along the border.

“To the extent that international humanitarian law applies, at the time of the attacks there was no way of knowing who possessed each device and who was nearby,” the experts said. “Simultaneous attacks by thousands of devices would inevitably violate humanitarian law, by failing to verify each target, and distinguish between protected civilians and those who could potentially be attacked for taking a direct part in hostilities.

“Such attacks could constitute war crimes of murder, attacking civilians, and launching indiscriminate attacks, in addition to violating the right to life,” the experts said.

Humanitarian law additionally prohibits the use of booby-traps disguised as apparently harmless portable objects where specifically designed and constructed with explosives – and this could include a modified civilian pager, the experts said. A booby-trap is a device designed to kill or injure, that functions unexpectedly when a person performs an apparently safe act, such as answering a pager.

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Home Solar Systems Explode in Beirut, Lebanon Following Walkie-Talkie and Pager Blasts, Officials Say

Lebanon officials are now reporting that multiple home solar energy systems have reportedly exploded in various neighborhoods across Beirut.

This attack follows closely on the heels of Tuesday’s pager blasts, which claimed the lives of 12 and left nearly 4,000 wounded in what is rapidly becoming an unparalleled security nightmare for the terrorist organization.

On Wednesday, walkie-talkies exploded simultaneously at various Hezbollah-controlled locations across the country.

Now, reports emerged from Lebanon’s Official News Agency detailing how home solar systems—often touted as the solution to climate change—were also going up in flames.

Al Jazeera reported, “Several blasts took place simultaneously, Hashem said, similar to what happened on Tuesday. “But this time, it was mostly walkie-talkies or radios [that exploded],” he said, adding that reports suggested that solar devices and some batteries in cars also exploded. Lebanon’s official news agency reported that home solar energy systems exploded in several areas of Beirut.”

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Hezbollah vows ‘reckoning’ with Israel

Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel after a wave of pager explosions killed several members of the Lebanon-based Islamist group and left thousands of others injured on Tuesday.

At least 11 people were killed and around 3,000 injured when pagers – which Hezbollah relies on to make messages harder to intercept – started exploding across Lebanon and Syria. Among the wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amini, as well as a number of top Hezbollah officials.

While media reports have suggested the explosions were orchestrated by Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, West Jerusalem has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement on Wednesday, Hezbollah said it holds “the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression.” It also pledged to continue its military operations against Israel in support of Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza despite the pager blasts.

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Company Behind Walkie-Talkie Devices Transformed into Bombs Also Supplies the U.S. Military

One day after pagers detonated across Lebanon, reportedly killing twelve people, including at least two children and four healthcare workers, a second wave of explosions has been reported across the country. Today’s detonations were reportedly through the manipulation of walkie-talkies made by ICOM, a Japanese firm whose American branch also serves as a significant supplier to the U.S. military. The combined confirmed death toll has already reached 26, and roughly 3,000 people have been reported injured.

The Wednesday explosions are primarily linked to the ICOM IC-V82, an electronic receiver with both military and civilian uses.

ICOM, based in Osaka, Japan, has a global footprint. U.S. government disclosures show that the company’s American affiliate has received at least $8.2 million in contracts with the U.S. federal government since 2008.

This includes an “urgent order” contract with the U.S. General Services Administration which was updated twelve days ago, a spot alongside Motorola Solutions in a potentially $495 million contract selling “land mobile radio supplies” to the U.S. Army in June 2018, and subcontracts through both the weapons giant Lockheed Martin and the controversial defense contractor Atlantic Diving Supply (ADS).

The series of explosions in Lebanon have raised concerns about the future of war that includes infiltration of supply chains and limitless exploits through electronically connected devices.

The attacks will likely fuel increased scrutiny over military and civilian supply chain security, which has long been a potential vulnerability.

The Pentagon and ICOM were contacted for comment but were not immediately available to respond. If a statement is provided, this post will be updated.

In addition to its sales to the U.S. military, ICOM America is also a significant contractor with the U.S. Coast Guard, including through a $2.2 million sub-award under General Dynamics in 2015. ICOM also sold its radios to the civilian Federal Aviation Administration as recently as October.

Other governments worldwide purchase ICOM equipment. United Kingdom records show that the British government purchased radio communication devices from the firm last year.

The exploding walkie-talkies were first reported by several Lebanese outlets, NBC News, and the Associated Press. The AP reported that its journalists heard the exploding walkie-talkies at a funeral today for four people killed by pagers yesterday. Other outlets noted that devices detonated in the hands of individuals who were not yet named.

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Explosive Device Reportedly Discovered Near Trump Rally in Uniondale, New York After Second Trump Assassination Attempt – Suspect in “Suspicious Occurrence” in Custody

Police have reportedly discovered an “explosive device” in a car near President Trump’s rally venue in Uniondale, New York tonight.

According to Nassau County Police Department sources, “During K9, doing their checks, they found an explosive device in one of the vehicles and that driver ended up running into the woods.” Another source from the department confirmed this, investigative reporter James Lalino told The Gateway Pundit.

Per James Lalino:

Sources in the Nassau County Police Department just told me that “the perimeter was breached and a blue barrel was removed” from the area surrounding tonight’s Trump rally site.

Source said “During K9, doing their checks, they found an explosive device in one of the vehicles and that driver ended up running into the woods. No one saw if he had anything on him, they just saw him take off running. A lot of cars are now parking, they’re lining up on Hempstead Turnpike, just parking on the grass. Even over at Eisenhower Park, they’re just parking over there.”

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Pagers in Hezbollah attack came from Budapest, rigged with 1-2 ounces of explosives: report

The pagers that blew up in a highly coordinated – and deadly – attack against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon Tuesday came from Budapest and were rigged with as little as one to two ounces of highly explosive material, according to a report.

The devices all exploded simultaneously Tuesday afternoon after receiving a message that triggered the detonation, killing at least nine people — including an 8-year-old girl — and wounding nearly 3,000 more. Among those injured was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group that the US has designated a terrorist organization, ordered more than 3,000 of the latest models from Gold Apollo in Taiwan — most of them being the company’s AP924 model, American and other officials briefed on the operation told The New York Times.

Gold Apollo said Wednesday it authorized its brand on the pagers, but claimed that a company in Hungary manufactured them.

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Hezbollah hit by a wave of exploding pagers in Lebanon and Syria. At least 9 dead, hundreds injured

Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people – including an 8-year-old girl — and wounding several thousand, officials said. They blamed Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack.

Among those wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. The mysterious incident came amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which have exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.

The pagers that exploded had been newly acquired by Hezbollah after the group’s leader ordered members to stop using cell phones, warning they could be tracked by Israeli intelligence. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the pagers were a new brand the group had not used before.

At about 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, pagers started heating up and then exploding in the pockets and hands of those carrying them — particularly in a southern Beirut suburb and the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon where Hezbollah has a strong presence, and in Damascus, where several Hezbollah members were wounded, Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official said. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

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German authorities warn of incendiary devices in packages, dpa reports

German authorities are warning of unconventional incendiary devices sent by unknown persons in packages, German news agency dpa reported on Friday, citing a message sent to airlines and logistics companies.

The parcels were sent from European locations to other locations on the continent and caught fire on the way, the report said.

The security notice was sent issued by the domestic intelligence service BfV and federal crime agency BKA, it said.

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Suspect was across the street from Capitol Police squad car while walking to Jan. 5 bomb drop, video shows

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story said it appeared the bombing suspect interacted with police. After publication, a congressional investigator with access to a camera angle that has not been made public reached out and told Blaze News a person similarly attired to the bomber who comes out of the alley and crosses the street toward the two Capitol Police vehicles is not the same person as the hoodie-clad pipe-bomb suspect seen walking down the alley just minutes earlier.

A Capitol Police squad car with its emergency lights on was parked directly across the street at the time a hoodie-clad suspect allegedly carrying a pipe bomb walked down the alley toward the rear of the Republican National Committee building, Blaze News has learned.

Video never before disclosed or made public shows the pipe-bomb suspect bathed in the red and blue squad-car lights on Jan. 5, 2021, just as he or she walked to place the explosive device. The footage was discovered by social media user “Armitas” (@accabbat on X),who provided it exclusively to Blaze News.

An individual with similar dress to the suspected pipe bomber who emerged from the same alley minutes later was unrelated to the bombing case, according to congressional investigators who have access to a camera angle that has not been made public.

A previous version of this story said an individual dressed like the bomb suspect crossed the street and interacted with Capitol Police parked along C Street. Congressional investigators said camera footage they have seen shows that person did not speak to officers and his or her presence was unrelated to the bomb case. Blaze News has requested access to footage from the camera, located in front of the Library of Congress near the alley entrance.

Discovery of the new video raises questions about why the footage has not been disclosed to the public in the nearly 44 months since Jan. 6, and why yet more cameras with clues to the pipe bomb mystery are being withheld by federal authorities.

The video from Armitas and subsequent investigation by Blaze News showed the alleged bomber emerged onto First Street Southeast from an alley between the Capitol Hill Club and the Republican National Committee at 8:14 p.m. on Jan. 5.The video from Armitas and subsequent investigation by Blaze News showed the alleged bomber emerged onto First Street Southeast from an alley between the Capitol Hill Club and the Republican National Committee at 8:14 p.m. Jan. 5.

The suspect walked north past the Capitol Hill Club. As the individual passed under the restaurant’s green awning at 8:14:30 p.m., a Capitol Police SUV turned the corner onto First Street. The alleged bomber waved at the squad car and then pointed — it appeared — at the driver as the vehicle passed by.

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SILENCE: How Much Longer Can Media Ignore Damning OIG Report Confirming Kamala’s Secret Service’s Role in Pipe Bomb Hoax?

Nearly a week ago, we ran a bombshell piece based on the DHS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report that turned out to confirm numerous aspects of our ground-breaking coverage on the January 6 pipe bomb hoax, including new information indicating that Kamala Harris’ own Secret Service detail at the very least participated in a cover-up of this hoax. Likely on account of its utterly damning and inconvenient contents, the OIG report had been assiduously suppressed at the orders of the highly corrupt and political DHS head, Alexander Mayorkas, of open borders fame. In fact, at the time that we published our own expose based on this report, the report was still non-public. Days later, the report became public for all to see, confirming our reporting on its contents and then some. Readers can find the full report here.

Amazingly, the media has responded to the release of this report with near total silence, a near complete blacklist of coverage. In fact, the media blackout is so startling that one wonders why DHS head Mayorkas bothered suppressing the report for so long in the first place. After all, what’s the point in suppressing a report that the media dutifully refuses to cover anyway? Julie Kelly, whose excellent research, along with our own, collectively exhausts the media’s interest in the Fedsurrection scandal, has a recent piece up helpfully documenting the media’s studied lack of interest in this latest OIG report. On the one hand, the media’s silence shouldn’t be anything surprising or even noteworthy; after all, we’ve been around the block a few times, and it’s nothing new for the media to slavishly cover for the regime.

Of course, the media wouldn’t want to amplify an OIG report that casts additional suspicion at the Secret Service, already under scrutiny since the narrowly avoided (and still unexplained) assassination attempt against Trump, let alone a report that lends credence to the reporting of outlets such as ours that have exposed key elements of the January 6 story as a hoax. Nonetheless, the OIG report also confirms the fact that Kamala Harris, as the VP-elect, came within 20 feet of the January 6th pipe bomb, and it is somewhat odd that the same media that has been desperate to sell the narrative of January 6 as a deadly terrorist attack wouldn’t jump at the chance to report that Kamala Harris, the Democrat nominee, narrowly escaped death from the January 6th pipe bomb.

The strangeness of the media’s silence on this point only recapitulates the strangeness of Kamala’s own silence; indeed, especially in light of the near assassination attempt on Trump, you would think Kamala should be eager to let everyone know that she too narrowly escaped political assassination. And yet, as we’ve said repeatedly, Kamala’s narrow escape from death by “MAGA Jan 6 pipe bomb” is curiously not her number one talking point, as we might expect, but her most carefully guarded secret. The true nature of the pipe bomb situation must really be damning for Kamala to forego the political advantage of talking about it, and those who have followed our ground-breaking reporting on the issue know that the facts are damning, indeed.

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