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Personal devices blasts in Lebanon

Top diplomat rejects Hungary’s involvement in Lebanon’s pager explosions

Hungarian intelligence agencies are conducting an investigation but have so far found no evidence of any operational activity by another country’s authorities in Hungary, Peter Szijjarto pointed out

BUDAPEST, September 25. /TASS/. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has dismissed allegations of a Hungarian company’s involvement in Lebanon’s pager explosions as fake news, the Telex news website reports.

Hungary was not involved in any way in the delivery of the lethal devices, and it’s nothing but a conspiracy theory, the top diplomat said, according to Telex. Hungarian intelligence agencies are conducting an investigation but have so far found no evidence of any operational activity by another country’s authorities in Hungary, Szijjarto pointed out.

Earlier, the Hungarian news website Telex claimed that the pagers that exploded in Lebanon may have been purchased from the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo by the Bulgarian firm Norta Global Ltd, rather than the Hungarian company BAC Consulting. According to the report, BAC Consulting, registered in Budapest, acted only as an intermediary, facilitating the agreement with the Taiwanese firm, while the Sofia-based Norta Global Ltd was directly involved in procuring the pagers. Telex alleges that Norta Global Ltd "organized the delivery and sold" the pagers to the Hezbollah Shai movement. That said, these devices "were never brought to Hungary," Telex noted, adding that the Bulgarian company, established in 2022, belonged to an unnamed Norwegian citizen. The news website also said that 196 more companies were registered at the same address.

Multiple explosions of communication devices occurred in Lebanon on September 17 and 18. On the first day, a large number of pagers blew up almost simultaneously in various regions of the country. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 12 people, including two children, were killed, and over 2,000 more suffered injuries. On the following day, a new wave of blasts swept across Lebanon. This time, walkie-talkies, phones and other similar devices exploded. At least 25 were killed and 608 were injured in the new attack.

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