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(Haaretz) – Lebanese authorities have arrested the deputy mayor of a village in the country’s Bekaa Valley suspected of belonging to an Israeli spy network, the newspaper Al-Akhbar reported yesterday.
The Lebanese paper said 61-year-old Ziad al-Homsy of the village of Saadnayel was contacted by Mossad agents in Thailand.
Al-Homsy’s arrest is part of a Lebanese crackdown on alleged Israeli intelligence networks in which at least 25 people have been apprehended. The arrests, mainly in southern Lebanon, appear to be part of a campaign against people suspected of gathering information on Hezbollah militants for the Mossad intelligence agency. Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006 that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon and 159 in Israel.
With elections due on June 7, the arrests of suspected Israeli agents have taken on a political dimension in Lebanon’s power struggle between pro-West and opposition factions. Hezbollah said yesterday that al-Homsy was a member of the pro-West Future Movement led by Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Lebanon prime minister Rafik Hariri. The Forward Movement admitted he was a member of the organization but distanced itself from al-Homsy, saying it had no prior knowledge of his alleged involvement with Israel.
Meanwhile, two Lebanese men suspected of spying for Israel fled across the heavily fortified border yesterday. The two men crossed near the village of Yaroun with their children, said a senior military official.
There was no immediate word from Israel, which has declined to comment on the recent espionage allegations.
Nine of the 15 people arrested in recent weeks have been charged with collaborating with Israel. They include a retired general, his wife and his nephew, a government security agent.
Last week, police displayed sophisticated devices they said were seized from Palestinians living in the country and from Lebanese recruited by Israel to spy on Hezbollah.
(Haaretz) – Lebanon has complained to the United Nations about alleged spying on the Israel, the office of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said.
Lebanon considers itself at war with Israel and spying for, or collaborating with the neighboring country can be punishable by death.
Beirut also officially asked the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to help return two Lebanese spy suspects who reportedly fled across the heavily fortified border to Israel earlier this week.
Did U.S. help Lebanon crack alleged Israeli spy rings?
[Do read the not-so-flattering Israeli comments on Barack Obama – Oui]
Not so long ago …
(France24) April 29, 2009 – Lebanon released four army generals who had been detained without charge since Aug 30, 2005 for their alleged implication in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri on Feb 14, 2005.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Hague-based UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon ordered “the release with immediate effect” of the generals after the pre-trial judge found a lack of evidence against them.
Lebanese Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar told FRANCE 24 that his government would “immediately carry out the sentence” delivered by the tribunal.
“The investigation continues,” Ajjar added. “This doesn’t mean that Hariri’s murderers and other Lebanese martyrs won’t be prosecuted. We put all our confidence in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.”
According to an initial report from the UN investigation team, there was “converging evidence” leading to the accusation that Syrian and Lebanese secret services were implicated in the attack.
The four accused men were – at the time of Hariri’s death – the chief of his presidential guard, head of security services, head of domestic security and head of army intelligence.
Would it be strange to combine recent developments … perhaps Syria has no blame in Hariri’s death and the UN is looking at another regional power who possesses such sophistication in murder by commando squad.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
