Lebanon uncovers European-run spy network

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Lebanese security officials have uncovered a European-run intelligence network that spies on the resistance movement Hezbollah, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to As Safir, Lebanon’s General Security Department arrested an inspector at the Rafiq Hariri International Airport in Beirut after “noticing suspicious action.”

The daily said the inspector, from the northern port city of Tripoli, was one of the top members of the spy network. It didn’t say when he was detained, but noted that he has been referred to the military judiciary.

Lebanon Interior Minister, Hassan Sabeh, was informed of the incident, and ordered security officials to “put an end to these acts that disturb security”, the newspaper said.

As Safir also reported that security experts following the inspector found out that he was trying to recruit airport staff and other civilians to work for European spy services.

The report suggested that the network aimed at “monitoring Hezbollah centers and institutions as well as military positions."

It said maps, pictures and videotapes of Hezbollah offices in Beirut and in south and east Lebanon were seized during a raid on the inspector's house.

"A digital camera used in the photographing task was also confiscated," As Safir said.

Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, has been working under the cover of European intelligence agencies’ names, the newspaper said.

It appears that the Mossad was doing the same thing with the recently uncovered network, it added.

Last June, Lebanon uncovered a “terror network” that was used by the Mossad to carry out attacks inside Lebanon, mainly against Hezbollah and Palestinian resistance groups.

The Lebanese army said at the time that a retired police officer, identified as Mahmoud Abu Rafeh, was the head of the terror network, and that he confessed to assassinating a number of Hezbollah and Palestinian fighters on behalf of the Mossad.

aljazeera.com