Did the hospital of the American University in Beirut switch its paging system because it had advance knowledge of the September 2024 Lebanon pager bombings? No, that's not true: The American University of Beirut Medical Center said it "categorically denies these baseless allegations." The hospital's official X account stated that the paging system infrastructure was upgraded in April 2024 and went live on August 29, 2024.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly Twitter, on September 17, 2024. The post's caption said:
⚡️🇺🇸🇱🇧BREAKING: The hospital of the American University in Beirut, Lebanon reportedly took all pagers of its nurses and doctors about 10 days ago, and 'replaced them due to technical issues', according to employees
I wonder why.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Sep 18 18:41:03 2024 UTC)
The post provided nothing to support its assertion that the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC), the hospital's official name, switched its paging system because it had advance knowledge of the Lebanon pager bombings.
A post (archived here) to the hospital's official X account on September 17, 2024, said, "The university [AUB] categorically denies these baseless allegations," saying "several malicious social media outlets have started spreading rumors and conspiracy theories about the types of communications systems AUB has in place, attempting to link AUB to this tragic event." The statement continued:
Following are the facts. Our paging system infrastructure was upgraded in April 2024. The Go-Live for switching to the new system took place on August 29, 2024. The scope of this upgrade was to enhance emergency and code communication, as several devices and systems had become obsolete.
The American University of Beirut Medical Center has received over 160 seriously injured individuals over the last three hours, with more to come. Our full focus must be on saving lives and caring for the wounded to the best of our ability. Rather than waste time spreading baseless rumors, we urge all to rally to support AUBMC and the heroic but overwhelmed medical system in Lebanon.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Sep 18 18:41:03 2024 UTC)
The Associated Press reported (archived here) that hundreds of pagers used by members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded nearly simultaneously on September 17, 2024, killing at least nine and wounding thousands. A second wave of device explosions a day later claimed at least 14 lives and injured hundreds more, AP reported (archived here).
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Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about Israel and Hezbollah can be found here.
