Marriott Issues Internal Alert in Lebanon Fearing Walkie-Talkie Bombs Still Unaccounted For

Marriott’s Four Points by Sheraton Le Verdun discarded pagers and walkie-talkie batteries in response to ongoing Israeli bombings in Lebanon

Just over a ten minute drive north from the Rafic Harari airport in Beirut, Marriott International’s Four Points by Sheraton Le Verdun hotel quickly mobilized to eliminate its pagers and walkie-talkie batteries in the wake of Israel detonating modifications of authentic AR-924 pagers sold by the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo last Tuesday and replicas of long-deprecated IC-V82 walkie-talkies from the Japanese firm Icom last Wednesday. 

Marriott’s security team warned of further unexploded devices from the coordinated attack. An urgent message sent to Marriott executives cautioned that “it is unclear if all of the reportedly 5,000+ devices reportedly shipped to Lebanon have been accounted for or whether some unexploded ordnance remains in the country or beyond.”

Marriott International’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) office did not respond to a request for comment on its mobilization, which is being reported here for the first time, or on whether the company had been in communication with the U.S. State Department on how to respond to the Israeli hand-held device bombings.