Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday (October 5, 2024) as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

Israel war live updates – October 6, 2024

Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

Evacuation order in Dahiyeh

The strong explosions began near midnight and continued into Sunday (October 6, 2024) after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Dahiyeh, the predominantly Shiite collection of suburbs on Beirut’s southern edge. AP video showed the blasts illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.

Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with some intercepted.

The strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport, and another building formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar. Social media reports claimed that one of the strikes hit an oxygen tank storage facility, but this was later denied by the owner of the company Khaled Kaddouha.

Shortly thereafter, Hezbollah claimed in a statement that it successfully targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near the Manara settlement in northern Israel “with a large rocket salvo, hitting them accurately.”

On Saturday (October 6, 2024), Israel’s attack on the northern Beddawi camp killed an official with Hamas’ military wing along with his wife and two young daughters, the Palestinian militant group said. Hamas later said another military wing member was killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. The aftermath showed smashed buildings, scattered bricks and stairways to nowhere.

Israel has killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began, in addition to most of the top leadership of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah as fighting has sharply escalated.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group away from shared borders so displaced Israelis can return to their homes.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ October 7 attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and Israel’s military have traded fire almost daily.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground clashes that Israel says have killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to reach a cease-fire in Gaza and in Lebanon.” The minister said the unnamed countries putting forward initiatives include regional states and some outside the Middle East.

Mr. Araghchi spoke a day after the supreme leader of Iran praised its recent missile strikes on Israel and said it was ready to do it again if necessary.

On Saturday (October 5, 2024) evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks, and it will do so.” On Lebanon, he said ”we are not done yet.”

Israel’s military earlier Saturday (October 5, 2024) said about 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Most were intercepted, but several fell in the northern Arab town of Deir al-Asad, where police said three people were lightly injured.

At least six people in Lebanon were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency.

Nearly 375,000 people have fled from Lebanon into Syria in less than two weeks, according to a Lebanese government committee.

Associated Press journalists saw hundreds continuing to cross the Masnaa Border Crossing on foot, crunching over the rubble after Israeli airstrikes left huge craters in the road leading to it on Thursday. Much of Hezbollah’s weaponry is believed to come from Iran through Syria.

‘Don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu’

“We were on the road for two days,” said Issa Hilal, one of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are now heading back. “The roads were very crowded … it was very difficult. We almost died getting here.” Some children whimpered or cried.

Other displaced families now shelter alongside Beirut’s famous seaside Corniche, their wind-flapped tents just steps from luxury homes. “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu,” said Om Ali Mcheik.

The Israeli military said special forces were carrying out ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon. It said troops dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.

Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the Health Ministry there, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. Almost 90% of Gaza’s residents are displaced, amid widespread destruction.

Palestinian medical officials said Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza on Saturday (October 5, 2024) killed at least nine people. One in the northern town of Beit Hanoun killed at least five, including two children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Another hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four, Awda hospital said.

Israel’s military did not have any immediate comment but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.

An Israeli airstrike killed two children in Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the civil defense first responders’ group that operates under the Hamas-run government.

Israel’s military warned Palestinians to evacuate along the strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza that was at the heart of obstacles to a cease-fire deal. The military told people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to Muwasi, a coastal area it has designated a humanitarian zone.

It’s unclear how many Palestinians are in those areas. Israeli forces have often returned to areas in Gaza to target Hamas fighters as they regroup.

A communication device on the ground as Lebanese Army forces (not in picture) prepare to destroy it in a controlled explosion, in southern Lebanon between the villages of Burj al Muluk and Klayaa, on September 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

On Sunday (September 15, 2024), Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, told his security Cabinet that he would do whatever necessary to make sure that the 70,000 Israelis displaced from the northern border villages by the fighting with Hezbollah, return home. Two days later, on Tuesday (September 17, 2024), in the late afternoon, hundreds of pagers, a low-tech messaging device, started exploding simultaneously across Lebanon and parts of Syria. At least 12 people were killed and over 2,800 were injured. A day later, on Wednesday (September 18, 2024), walkie-talkies and other electronic devices exploded in Lebanon, leaving 20 more dead and at least 450 others injured.

The explosions mostly hit Hezbollah, the Shia militia group backed by Iran which has been using pagers and walkie-talkies for communication among its ranks. Hezbollah immediately blamed Israel for the attack. Iran accused Israel of mass murder in Lebanon. Several others raised questions about weaponising civilian communication devices. Lebanon’s health officials said there were at least two children among the dead and that they can’t say with certainty how many of the victims were civilians and how many of them were Hezbollah members. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its role in the explosions — its standard response when it comes to controversial overseas operations. But if Israel is really behind the attack, the question is how they pulled an attack of this scale off.

Taiwanese connection

Initially there were different theories pointing to different possibilities, including cyber warfare and supply-side penetration to tamper with the devices. Most of the pagers that exploded were AR924s that carried the brand name of Gold Apollo, a Taiwan-based company founded in 1995. After Tuesday’s (September 17, 2024) explosions, Gold Apollo issued a statement, saying it was not involved in the production of the pagers in question. “The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,” Gold Apollo founder and president, Hsu Ching-kuang, told reporters at the company’s office in New Taipei on Wednesday (September 18, 2024).

In the statement, the company said the AR924 model pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, a Hungarian company. “Gold Apollo has established a long-term partnership with BAC Consulting”, and it has authorised “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,” the short statement said. Gold Apollo did not offer any details about its contract with BAC.

Hungarian connection

BAC Consulting, based in Budapest, operates in “environmental, political and development projects”, according to the company’s LinkedIn page, which has 303 followers as of Thursday (September 19, 2024). The page has no reference to the company’s involvement in manufacturing of electronic devices. It says BAC works to find “innovative solutions” to tackle challenges of “development, international affairs and environment”. Cristiana Rosaria Bársony-Arcidiacono, a 49-year-old PhD in particle physics, is the CEO of the company.

According to Ms. Bársony-Arcidiacono’s LinkedIn profile, she has advocated “environmental and social causes for developing and fragile countries” and has published articles in science journals. She did her PG masters in SOAS, London, and a diploma in politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. But what does a particle physics PhD with experience in the fields of environmental and developmental consulting have to do with pager manufacturing? “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong,” Ms. Bársony-Arcidiacono told U.S. broadcaster NBC on the phone. But she did not say BAC was not involved. And if Gold Apollo is to be believed, the little-known Budapest-based company that claims to be working in the fields of development and environment consulting was designing and manufacturing Taiwanese pagers and selling them to Hezbollah in Lebanon and parts of Syria. And they exploded at a critical juncture of the Hezbollah-Israel war. Both the knowns and unknowns of the explosion saga point to bigger behind-the-scenes players.

The hidden hand

According to a New York Times report, which cites defence and intelligence officials, BAC Consulting was a front company of the Israeli intelligence agencies. The report says Israeli intelligence officials set up three shell companies, including BAC, which was formally registered in Hungary in 2022. Hezbollah was wary of using cell phones, fearing Israeli penetration. They turned to pagers for communication, and Israel established a company to make those pagers — with inbuilt PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) explosives, and a switch to detonate them remotely.

The back-to-back explosions have dealt a blow to Hezbollah, whose senior commander Fuad Shukr was assassinated by Israel on July 30 in Beirut. Israel has once again demonstrated its willingness and capability to take great risks in attacking its rivals. But with Hezbollah vowing vengeance, tensions on Israel’s northern border are likely to flare up in coming days.