Turkey is reviewing communications security measures devices used by its armed forces after the deadly explosions in Lebanon, a Turkish Defense Ministry official said, quoted by “Reuters” and News.bg.
Explosions of hand-held radios used by the armed group Hezbollah took place yesterday in southern Lebanon, in the deadliest day since cross-border fighting between the group and Israel began almost a year ago. These incidents heightened tensions after similar blasts on extremists' pagers were reported the previous day.
The blasts put “Hezbollah” – the most powerful representative of Iran in the region – in a state of chaos. They are taking place in the context of Israel's ongoing 11-month war against the Palestinian militants of “Hamas” in Gaza and increased fears of escalation into a regional war.
An anonymous Turkish military official confirmed that the army only uses locally produced equipment, but Ankara has mechanisms in place to control the involvement of third parties in the supply or production of such devices.
„Whether in current operations, the ongoing war in Ukraine or as we saw in Lebanon, measures are reviewed and new ones are developed based on the lessons learned from each event,” the official said.
He also added that the Ministry of Defense is carrying out the necessary checks in relation to the incident, without providing further details.
Sources said Israeli spies remotely detonated explosives planted in 5,000 Hezbollah pagers before they were imported into Lebanon.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced that the creation of an independent cyber security agency is a government priority, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers it a necessity.