By Jack Poulson, Lee Fang
September 18, 2024
September 19, 2024, 10:45 a.m. ET: The article was updated to include a citation of subsequent reporting from Time Magazine on the likelihood that the detonated Icom devices were counterfeit.
September 18, 2024, 11:15 p.m. ET: The article was updated to include a quote from Icom America.
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. Shortly after publication of this article, Icom America senior sales manager Ray Novak was quoted by The Associated Press today stating that “I can guarantee you they were not our products.”
And on Thursday morning, Time Magazine reported further details suggesting that the detonated devices were likely counterfeit, including a previous warning from Icom that most advertisements for its long-discontinued IC-V82 product line were forgeries. “Almost all Type 2 products are counterfeit. It has been a long time since the products were discontinued. Purchase the new models, such as the IC-V80 and IC-2300H (with a genuine hologram label),” the warning read.
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 and were not immediately available to respond.
In addition to Icom America’s sales to the U.S. military, the company is also a significant contractor with the U.S. Coast Guard, including through a $2.2 million subaward under General Dynamics in 2015. ICOM also sold its radios to the civilian Federal Aviation Administration as recently as October.
Other governments around the world 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.
The two rounds of blasts happened one day after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly stepped up demands for the U.S. to support “military action” against Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militia linked to Iran. Reporting from Reuters earlier today cited a senior Lebanese security official claiming that Tuesday’s pager attacks were perpetrated by Israel’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad, which has a documented history of planting explosives in cellphones.
Social media posts have also claimed that ATMs, solar panels, and other electronic devices across Lebanon exploded today, raising fears that other electronic devices had been covertly transformed into improvised explosives controlled by the Israeli government.
The conflict between Lebanon and Israel has escalated since the Hamas attacks and subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza last year. Hezbollah has fired rockets and drones into Israel, while Israel has fired mortars and conducted widespread air strikes into Lebanon.
The IED explosions this week were reportedly targeted at Hezbollah, though many of the victims were civilians. One of the killed includes 9-year-old Fatima Abdulla, who “was in the kitchen on Tuesday when a pager on the table began to beep,” her aunt told the New York Times. The paper reported that she “picked up the device to bring it to her father and was holding it when it exploded, mangling her face and leaving the room covered in blood.”
The pagers were reportedly purchased by Hezbollah earlier this year. While the pagers were branded as made by Gold Apollo Co., Ltd., a Taiwanese company, the firm’s CEO has claimed that the devices were merely licensed and were in fact supplied by a Hungarian company called BAC Consulting.
Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono, the founder of the Hungarian firm, told reporters this morning, “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate.” Hungary’s international spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs was noted to have publicly posted that BAC “has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary.”
* This article was automatically syndicated and expanded from Lee Fang – Substack.
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