Text / Reporter Ma Jingze
According to CCTV News reported on September 19, the Ministry of Public Health of Lebanon said that on the 17th and 18th, there were explosions of walkie-talkies and other wireless communication equipment in many places in Lebanon. The incident has killed 32 people and injured thousands.
According to Xinhua News Agency, citing Lebanon media reports, on the 18th, explosions were heard in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and several areas in the south and east of the country. The communication equipment that exploded was identified as an ICOM V82 walkie-talkie, said to be made in Japan.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
This was another large-scale explosion of communications equipment in Lebanon after the pager explosion on the afternoon of 17 July. On September 17, hand-held pager explosions occurred in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and in many places in southeastern and northeastern Lebanon, and the blast wave lasted for more than an hour. Lebanon Health Minister Abyad said on the 18th that the pager explosion has killed 12 people and injured more than 3,000 people, of which about 400 are critically injured.
Is the pager manufacturer a "shell company"?
According to the Global Times, most of the dead and injured in the pager bombing on the 17th were members of the Lebanon Allah Party, so the incident was considered an "attack" against the Lebanon Allah Party.
The Lebanon Allah Party also made a strong response to the successive explosions of communication equipment on the 17th and 18th. On the 17th, the Lebanon Allah Party issued a statement that Israel was "fully responsible" for the pager explosion and vowed to retaliate; On the 18th, the Lebanon Allah Party again issued a statement stating that Israel "should bear full responsibility for this crime and aggression."
(Source: CCTV News)
After the incident, the information of the manufacturers of pagers and walkie-talkies involved was also exposed one after another.
According to media reports, the manufacturer of the pager where the explosion occurred was made by the Chinese company Gold Apollo in Taiwan. However, the company issued a statement on the 18th, saying that the company has a long-term OEM authorization and regional agency partnership with a Hungary company called "BAC", and BAC is responsible for the design and manufacturing of products. The model AR-924 that exploded this time belongs to the product produced and sold by BAC, and Golden Apollo only provides brand trademark authorization, and has nothing to do with the design and production of the product.
The Global Times quoted the United States New York Times as reporting on the 18th that the pager explosion was a "premeditated" act, and the company called "BAC" was a shell company established by Israel to provide pagers doped with explosives for senior members of Allah Lebanon. Xu Qingguang, chairman of the Golden Apollo Company, revealed on the 18th that the pager that exploded was produced by the agent at the factory in Lebanon.
According to China News Network, citing United States CNN, the IC-V82 walkie-talkie that exploded on the 18th was a product launched by Japan's ICOM company. In response, ICOM issued a statement on the 19th saying that IC-V82 had been discontinued about 10 years ago, and the company would investigate the explosion.
In addition, on September 17, local time, United States State Department spokesman Matthew · Miller said at a briefing on the same day that United States was collecting relevant information about the Lebanon pager explosion, and stressed that United States was not involved.
Is the communication equipment supply chain infiltrated?
In fact, whether the bombing was an intentional attack by Israel or not, it has dealt a blow to the international supply chains of the companies involved. In this incident, Kim Apollo and ICOM, which are alleged to be manufacturers of related equipment, are facing huge public pressure and have to come forward to clarify.
Industry insiders pointed out that although the explosion of the product is very likely to have nothing to do with these two companies, after such a major safety accident, the external supply chain cooperation and reputation of these enterprises will be negatively affected.
In addition, the international supply chain security issue implicit in the incident has undoubtedly sounded the alarm for countries again. Some media said that this is the "biggest security vulnerability" of the Lebanon Allah Party since the outbreak of the current round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to the Global Daily, citing AFP, the equipment involved may have been "damaged from the source", indicating that the international supply chain (for the manufacture of civilian electronic equipment) has been infiltrated.
Several experts said the bombing was a well-planned, long-term operation, most likely carried out by infiltrating supply chains and planting explosives before pagers arrived in Lebanon.
According to the Observer Network, citing Hong Kong media "South China Morning Post" reported on the 18th, Rahman, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam Institute of International Studies in Singapore, believes that the bombing shows that "Israel has the ability to use digital means and global supply chain connections to penetrate deep into the opponent's stronghold to strike."
At the same time, he said that at the strategic level, the military and intelligence agencies of the great powers and their powerful allies can fully "weaponize" the global supply chain, through which asymmetric warfare tools will be pre-deployed, which will be able to be activated in times of conflict.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
"This looks like it could be the largest physical supply chain attack in history." Alpelovich, chairman of the United States think tank Silverado Policy Accelerator, told The Washington Post.
Mancini, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, also said the incident's tendency to weaponize equipment was "extremely worrying" for all countries. "What can make people think is that Israel may not be the only country with this technology."
Industry insiders pointed out that in the face of possible "supply chain invasion" in the future, how to protect their supply chain from external threats and damage has become a new problem that enterprises involved in overseas supply chain cooperation and relevant state departments need to face.
He believes that, in general, how to deal with "intrusions and attacks through the international supply chain" should become a new issue for the mainland to ensure the security of the supply chain. Specifically, in response to possible intrusions, all parties, including enterprises and relevant departments, should take new countermeasures and establish relevant systems in terms of risk source definition, relevant technical analysis, equipment safety testing, and supply chain traceability verification.