Spies

Breaking news:

Lebanon's Daily Star has a scoop: It seems that the "two men arrested for running an Israeli spy ring in the Bekaa Valley are relatives of a suicide hijacker who piloted a plane in the September 11, 2001, attacks, a security source told The Daily Star on Sunday.

"The army said that the men had been arrested on Friday, but the source said that they were actually captured two weeks ago and the discovery of the arrests by the media prompted the army to announce their capture"

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Media Line reports:

Lebanese authorities announced over the weekend it had apprehended two Lebanese civilians, who were spying on behalf of Israel's foreign intelligence body, the Mossad.

The two were recently captured in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley and have reportedly confessed they were employed by the Mossad, the Lebanese daily Al-Safir reported.

The ringleader, A.G., was recruited in the 1980s, during his activities with a Palestinian organization in the Beqaa.

A.G. then recruited several other men, including his relative, Y.G., who was the second person captured last week.

The cell gathered information on Lebanese military bases, Syrian intelligence centers in Lebanon and Palestinian institutions in the Beqaa and Hizbullah headquarters, informed sources revealed to A-Safir.

During their investigation it was further revealed that the group also gathered information in security centers in Damascus and in Kafr Sousa, where Hizbullah's operations chief 'Imad Mughniyya was assassinated last February.

In 2006 the LAF's Intelligence Directorate revealed it had captured an Israeli network that had been operating in Lebanon for many years. Its leader, Mahmoud Rafi, admitted that the network was behind the assassination of Hizbullah and Palestinian officials. Rafi further admitted the group planted explosive charges in several locations in Lebanon.

According to Ynet :

The man arrested on suspicion of employing network of agents working with Israeli intelligence to map out sensitive locations in Lebanon, Syria—including Damascus neighborhood in which Hizbullah leader Mugniyah was killed:

Sources said the network has been operating for over 20 years, and was responsible for mapping out the Beqaa Valley, including Syrian military bases and Palestinian sites. Recently, a-Safir reported, the spies have been pursuing Hizbullah operatives and outposts.

The ring was said to have operated in Syria as well, where it is suspected to have mapped out areas in Damascus such as Kfar Sousa, the secure neighborhood in which Hizbullah leader Imad Mugniyah was killed in February by a car bomb.

Investigators are currently attempting to link the espionage ring to Mugniyah's murder, as well as to divine its function in the transfer of information to Israel, the report said.