01/11/2008
The Lebanese army has discovered a Lebanese cell suspected of working for Israel's spy agency, the Mossad, since the 1980s, the leading Lebanese daily As-Safir reported Saturday.
The report quoted judicial and security sources as saying that the network's leader and his relative, both of whom have been arrested by the Lebanese authorities, have confessed that they were collaborating with the Mossad.
The Lebanese army arrested the cell's leader in western Bekaa Valley after having monitored his moves inside Lebanon and his trips to Syria, the report said.
While the sources refused to elaborate, citizens of the western Bekaa Valley town where the arrest took place told As-Safir that security forces raided the suspect's home and confiscated his vehicle, which was fitted with a camera capable of taking clear pictures of license plates and faces.
The eyewitnesses told As-Safir that the man didn't have any particular job and that he used to sometimes park his vehicle on the international highway between the Bekaa town of Chtaura and the Masnaa border crossing.
According to the report, sources close to the investigation said the suspect was recruited by the Mossad in the 1980s. They added that documents seized from the suspect's house and vehicle proved his use of high-tech equipment to contact the Israelis.
The same sources said security forces have also arrested the man's relative who confessed to monitoring the moves of personalities, convoys and observing sensitive sites particularly in the central Bekaa Valley.
The newspaper said the network had been entrusted over the last 20 years with monitoring several security spots, including Lebanese and Syrian army outposts and Palestinian bases in the Bekaa Valley. However, the cell has in the past few years concentrated on observing Hezbollah posts, members and convoys, the report went on to say.
The Lebanese investigation also revealed that the cell has been monitoring sensitive security areas in Damascus, including the area of Kfar. Investigators are reportedly trying to find a link between the network and the assassination of Hezbollah Military chief martyr Imad Moughniyeh and other personalities in Lebanon and Syria.
The ongoing probe is also focusing on the role the network played in the month-long July 2006 Israeli War on Lebanon.
Update:
Members of Israeli spy ring 'related to 9/11 hijacker'
READ THAT VERY CAREFULLY! I AM NOT IMPLYING ANYTHING ... I LEAVE IT UP FOR EVERYONE TO DECIDE! 'Lebanon is an open theater for espionage' BEIRUT: 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 Lebanese Army announced on Saturday that it had arrested two people suspected of involvement with a spy network that gathered information for Israel's intelligence services. 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. The army said the men had admitted "gathering information on political party offices and monitoring the movements of party figures for the enemy." The statement added that the men had been found with "communications devices and other sophisticated equipment," which they used to gather information and transmit it to Mossad agents. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source said the men are relatives of Ziad Jarrah, the Lebanese who helped commandeer United Airlines Flight 93 before it crashed into a Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001, killing everyone on board. Jarrah's family is from the town of Al-Marej in the Bekaa Valley, where the arrests took place. The Jarrah family have repeatedly denied that Ziad was part of the September 11 plot, claiming he was instead a innocent passenger on the plane, but an official investigation concluded that he was a senior member of the hijacking team who had undergone flight training in order to carry out the attacks. Residents of Al-Marej told As-Safir newspaper that the men were arrested when security forces raided a home in the town and seized equipment from a car. The newspaper said investigators had found documents which prove that the men had been in contact with Israeli intelligence agents. Investigators said that the men had passed information about the location of Lebanese and Syrian army outposts to the Israelis. One of the two men arrested, identified only by his initials "A.D.J.," is believed to have been the head of the spy ring. Security sources told The Daily Star that the man was a member of the Palestinian militant group Fatah al-Intifadah, which is known to be active along the Syrian border. The other man who was arrested is said to be a relative of "A.D.J." and was allegedly involved in conducting reconnaissance work for Mossad in the Bekaa Valley. Retired General Elias Hanna told The Daily Star that Lebanon provided the perfect environment for spies to operate. "Lebanon is an open theater for espionage and counter-espionage," he said. "It has all the elements that are needed in international and regional conflict." But he said that if the group had been operating since the 1980s it would be surprising. "That's 20 years," he said. "That's a long period of time." The timing of the arrests was also surprising, he said, given that senior officials in the Lebanese Army had recently been replaced, disrupting the continuity needed for counter-espionage operations. "You have to work on these cases for a long period of time. It requires information and long periods of monitoring," Hanna said. "The previous period was chaotic in Lebanon, so I don't know how the arrests happened," he added. He said the group were probably trying to gather information about Hizbullah, but would not have been able to infiltrate the group. "Hizbullah is an intelligence-proof entity," he said. "It operates with a very high level of secrecy. If you cannot get inside it, you study its environment. This is what we are seeing." Investigators say the men were tasked with monitoring the movements of senior political figures in the Bekaa region, which lies on the main route between Beirut and Damascus. Officials are also investigating a theory that the group provided intelligence to the Israelis that may have helped them plan the killing of the senior Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus in February. Hizbullah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has accused Israel of being behind the car bomb that killed Mughniyeh and has pledged that the Shiite group will take revenge for his death. [ The Zionist Dark Room Accused Syria ] An Israeli government spokesman refused to comment on the arrests. "Every couple of weeks there is someone, somewhere accusing the Mossad of something. As a rule, we don't comment on all these accusations," the spokesman said on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army denied the validity of media reports that linked two men seen crossing the Lebanese-Israeli border on Sunday with the case. In a statement issued on Sunday, the army said that the reports were "confused."
Investigators said that the spy ring had been active in the area since the late 1980s.
Comments:
Soon this story will be forgotten completely .
In june 2006 Another Mossad cell was discovered in Sidon after 2 islamic Jihad had been killed by a powerful car bomb , Lots of Sophisticated equipment, sattellite Phones , ID , Dollars, Guns were shown on TV and PM siniora said he will complain to the UN about this Interference in lebanon , within 2 or 3 days the story was ENDEd .as if it never existed .
Same in Algeria last year an Algerian Policeman and a Journalist were working for the Mossad who contacted them from their Offices somewhere in an African country (cant remember which one)and gave them lots of money to spy for them inAlgeria .
the story was on Batna Newspapers and within days again , the story vanished from the website,as if the Mossad managed to Bribe or Blackmail Algeria .
I hope Yemen wont give up quickly about the Mossad Cell it discovered a couple of weeks ago . same has been happening in Egypt and also forgotten within days .
Israel is not to be trusted if You ask me