Mossad caught spying in Lebanon?

[TonyGosling]

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Magistrate wants life sentence for Lebanese spying for Israel
Highest profile target was Hizbullah leader Nasrallah

By Patrick Galey
The Lebanese Daily Star staff


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&articl e_id=104264

BEIRUT: A military prosecutor charged and formally indicted a Lebanese man on Wednesday for spying for Israel. Military investigative magistrate Rashid Mezher called for Marwan Faqih to serve a life sentence with forced labor after claiming he provided Israel with secret information on Lebanese officials and high-ranking members of Hizbullah.

He was also indicted for visiting Israel.

His most high-profile target was Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the military court heard.

Media reports on Wednesday claimed that three individuals were sentenced in absentia to 15 years hard labor. Judiciary sources were unable to corroborate these reports.

Before his arrest, Faqih, 37, is alleged to have posed as a car-mechanic, operating from a gas station he ran on the road between Zebdine and Nabatieh.

The court heard that Faqih had inherited the espionage activities of his father following his death.

Faqih was indicted of plotting a series of assassinations, including the planned killing of a high-ranking Hizbullah official, using explosives. Faqih denied that he had sought to kill anyone during his operations.

Nasrallah has previously called for individuals found guilty of spying on Israel to receive the toughest possible sentence. Addressing supporters at a rally earlier this year, Nasrallah said: "In the name of the families of martyrs, of the wounded and of those who lost their homes, I demand that the death penalty is handed down to the agents who provided information that lead to all these repercussions."

Lebanon is still in a state of war with Israel and convicted spies face a sentence of life imprisonment if it is proven the information they leaked contributed to the loss of Lebanese lives.

Faqih is alleged to have traveled in 2005 to Belgium and then on to Israel where he met with Israeli Mossad officers who praised the work of his father against what they termed "the state of terrorist Hizbullah."

Faqih pledged to pursue the mission started by his father and was tasked with gathering information on Hizbullah officers and their whereabouts, the court heard.

Between 2007 and 2009 Faqih is said to have visited Israel, landing in Tel-Aviv airport, before meeting again with intelligence officers who interrogated him on the location of Nasrallah, as well as the whereabouts of the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah at the time.

The Israeli soldiers' remains were handed back to Jerusalem in exchange for five Lebanese prisoners - including Samir Kontar, detained for nearly 30 years - and the bodies of 200 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in July last year.

The court heard that Faqih consulted with Israeli reconnaissance experts on locations damaged in the 2006 war, providing details on all Lebanese infrastructure targets destroyed in Israeli bombardment.

He was also allegedly tasked with observing and locating arms and missile depots.

The court heard that Faqih received training from Israeli intelligence experts on the use of wireless communication devices, the location of targets and the dissemination of digitized, coded messages. He was also allegedly trained to locate areas of deployment and checkpoints belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces, Internal Security Forces and Hizbullah.

Faqih was said to have operated largely out of his gas station in the south of the county, using surveillance equipment installed in September 2007 to monitor the movements of Hizbullah officials who often used the site to refuel their vehicles.

The court heard that between 2005 and 2007 Faqih received and sent a series of digitally encrypted messages containing information about buildings located in the southern villages and towns of Nabatieh, Harouf, Shoukit, Kfar-Ruman and Kfar-Jawz. Contained in the communiqu?s were details of Hizbullah officials' residences, it was alleged.

After addressing the United Nation's Security Council in New York last Wednesday, special coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams told reporters that allegations of Israeli espionage would be treated as a "serious violation" of Security Council Resolution 1701.

"If these allegations are confirmed in court, this will constitute a very serious violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and consequently undermine relevant Security Council resolutions," said Williams.

UN Resolution 1701 was drafted to end the 2006 summer war. It called for the recognition of "the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized borders."

There have been a series of alleged resolution violations in recent months, including a reported 518 incidents of Israeli transgressions of the Blue Line outlined in a document sent to the Security Council last month.

In June, Lebanon's military prosecutor charged 10 suspects with spying for Israel.

Lebanon has charged 68 people since January on suspicion of spying for Israel's intelligence service, Mossad, in a high-profile campaign to dismantle espionage cells operating in the country. Of those individuals, 37 Lebanese, two Palestinians and one Egyptian, are currently in detention, according to AFP.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&articl e_id=104264

[josephmathew]

Lebanese officials have also arrested six more people suspected of spying for Israel 's intelligence operations in Lebanon. Including the latest captures the number of suspected Israeli spies arrested since January are 16.