Retired Lebanese army officer accused of spying for Israel
Lebanon is accusing a retired Lebanese army officer of spying for Israel.A Lebanese reserve officer with a rank comparable to brigadier general has been arrested for cooperating with Israeli intelligence, according to Tuesday's edition of the Lebanese newspaper al-Ahbar. According to the newspaper, the officer admitted to meeting his Israeli operators on a regular basis in Europe during the ten years since his retirement from the Lebanese military administration but did not take part in any active campaigns.I have doubts about this story. First, how much useful information could a 'retired' Lebanese officer have unless it's information about secret weapons systems and the like. Is Lebanon developing weapons of mass destruction? Is it keeping them in southern Lebanon? I find that hard to believe. Israel would have gotten to them a long time ago.
The officer - identified as Adiv "Ayin" - from the southern village of Ramish, was arrested Saturday, three months after Lebanese security officials started trailing a group of suspects who frequented areas of eastern Beirut, northern Lebanon and the southern part of the country, especially the area south of the Litani river. "Ayin"'s wife was also arrested and provided details that he did not provide. A senior Lebanese security officer called "Ayin" a very important person and said the investigation could yield sensitive and valuable information.
Second, al Ahbar is controlled by Hezbullah. Could this story have been released to distract attention from what is going on between Hezbullah and Egypt? Israel Radio has just reported (10:00 am newscast) that the same newspaper has published what purports to be a transcript of the interrogation of Sami Shihab, Hezbullah's chief operative in Egypt and the chief suspect arrested by Egypt. In the transcript, Shihab claims that (of course!) Hezbullah was not seeking to undermine the Mubarak regime in Egypt - it was just seeking to help their friends in Gaza murder Jooos.
I don't buy this story. If "Ayin" was arrested at all, the charges are trumped up. This is just a distraction from Hezbullah's circus in Egypt. And a cheap one at that.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:01 AM
1 Comments:
For Hezbollah, it was embarrassing to have the tables turned on them by fellow Arabs. Playing the "Israel Card" is usually enough to win them back. Will it work with Egypt?
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