Former detainees in Israeli jails protest in Beirut
against the lenient sentences handed to convicted spies. (Photo: Marwan
Tahtah)
An antiques dealer and former member of Baalbeck’s municipal council
has been pinned as one of Israel’s top spies in Lebanon. “Ali Y.” tracked the
movements of a former Hezbollah chief and gave Israel its most detailed mappings
of the Bekaa, but some say his most fiendish deeds have yet to be
revealed.
Ali Y. is considered one of the most important Israeli spies to have been arrested in Lebanon in recent years. Investigators are in the process of interrogating the 67-year-old man before military investigating judge Imad al-Zein. At the close of yesterday’s session, they had only broached about eight of his 23 years as a paid spy for Israeli intelligence.
The information gleaned from that period alone is enough to place him in the category of “heavyweight collaborator.”
Sources familiar with the probe told Al-Akhbar that Ali’s relationship with Israeli intelligence began in 1990 when he was involved in the antiques trade while also working for the Ministry of Public Works’ Buildings Directorate in the district of Baalbeck .
On a trip to New York, he met an American Jewish antiques dealer and they struck up a business relationship. Shortly afterwards, Ali’s new partner suggested he travel to Cyprus to meet another dealer based there, promising lucrative deals. The two men met and the dealer soon revealed his true identity as an Israeli intelligence officer, and, aware of Ali’s ministry position, offered to pay him for information. Ali accepted without hesitation.
Interrogators have concluded that Ali was motivated to become a spy purely by greed. After an initial period of training – during which he was taught communications and encryption skills – he took to meeting his handlers once every six months. He was paid between $10,000 and $15,000 each time, making his total earnings from collaboration around $600,000.
The meetings with handlers took place in Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and Thailand. On one occasion, Ali travelled to Occupied Palestine using a forged passport provided by the Israelis. On several occasions he met them in Tel Aviv or Haifa, always staying in comped luxury apartments.
Among the most intriguing revelations to emerge from the questioning is that Ali was tasked with the surveillance of Abbas Mousawi, the former Hezbollah secretary general who was assassinated by an Israeli missile strike on his vehicle in 1992, two years after Ali became an agent.
He provided his handlers with details of Mousawi’s movements, including where his car would be parked and what position it usually took in the convoy. It is not yet clear, however, to what extent Ali was involved in the actual assassination.
He was also ordered to track Subhi al-Tufaili, Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, and other leading Hezbollah figures in the Bekaa area, and to a lesser extent local leaders of the Amal movement.
Ali also monitored Syrian intelligence centers in the Bekaa, and later provided information about the Resistance’s wireless communications network – which is thought to have been of direct use to Israel in its 2006 war on Lebanon.
Ali’s work was presided over by a succession of Israeli intelligence officers. At each meeting they would review the information he had gathered and instruct him on his next task. Ali reportedly said that his bosses frequently gave him lie-detector tests, with Israeli psychiatrists present, but he always passed.
Ali’s job at the regional buildings directorate gave him access to information the Israelis clearly found valuable. “He did a complete survey of the Bekaa for them. He dissected it for them like nobody had done before,” one source remarked. “They used to provide him with aerial photographs so he could identify targets on the ground. He had many meetings with Israeli aerial photography specialists in Tel Aviv.”
The Israelis appear to have paid Ali considerably more than most of their Lebanese agents, and even threw a special party for him, expressing their gratitude.
Ali is described as being relatively well-educated, remaining cool and collected under questioning. At 67, he suffers from health problems, and retired from his ministry job three years ago.
He was brought into judicial custody by Lebanese Military Intelligence after it conducted its own interrogation of him, obtaining confessions with the help of information supplied by the Resistance’s intelligence apparatus.
Informed sources said Ali has also revealed secrets of a highly sensitive nature which are being kept strictly under wraps at present.
An indictment is expected soon. The arrest warrant issued for him by Judge Zein cites several articles of the penal code, which potentially carry the death penalty.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
Ali Y. is considered one of the most important Israeli spies to have been arrested in Lebanon in recent years. Investigators are in the process of interrogating the 67-year-old man before military investigating judge Imad al-Zein. At the close of yesterday’s session, they had only broached about eight of his 23 years as a paid spy for Israeli intelligence.
The information gleaned from that period alone is enough to place him in the category of “heavyweight collaborator.”
Sources familiar with the probe told Al-Akhbar that Ali’s relationship with Israeli intelligence began in 1990 when he was involved in the antiques trade while also working for the Ministry of Public Works’ Buildings Directorate in the district of Baalbeck .
On a trip to New York, he met an American Jewish antiques dealer and they struck up a business relationship. Shortly afterwards, Ali’s new partner suggested he travel to Cyprus to meet another dealer based there, promising lucrative deals. The two men met and the dealer soon revealed his true identity as an Israeli intelligence officer, and, aware of Ali’s ministry position, offered to pay him for information. Ali accepted without hesitation.
Interrogators have concluded that Ali was motivated to become a spy purely by greed. After an initial period of training – during which he was taught communications and encryption skills – he took to meeting his handlers once every six months. He was paid between $10,000 and $15,000 each time, making his total earnings from collaboration around $600,000.
The meetings with handlers took place in Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and Thailand. On one occasion, Ali travelled to Occupied Palestine using a forged passport provided by the Israelis. On several occasions he met them in Tel Aviv or Haifa, always staying in comped luxury apartments.
Among the most intriguing revelations to emerge from the questioning is that Ali was tasked with the surveillance of Abbas Mousawi, the former Hezbollah secretary general who was assassinated by an Israeli missile strike on his vehicle in 1992, two years after Ali became an agent.
He provided his handlers with details of Mousawi’s movements, including where his car would be parked and what position it usually took in the convoy. It is not yet clear, however, to what extent Ali was involved in the actual assassination.
He was also ordered to track Subhi al-Tufaili, Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, and other leading Hezbollah figures in the Bekaa area, and to a lesser extent local leaders of the Amal movement.
Ali also monitored Syrian intelligence centers in the Bekaa, and later provided information about the Resistance’s wireless communications network – which is thought to have been of direct use to Israel in its 2006 war on Lebanon.
Ali’s work was presided over by a succession of Israeli intelligence officers. At each meeting they would review the information he had gathered and instruct him on his next task. Ali reportedly said that his bosses frequently gave him lie-detector tests, with Israeli psychiatrists present, but he always passed.
Ali’s job at the regional buildings directorate gave him access to information the Israelis clearly found valuable. “He did a complete survey of the Bekaa for them. He dissected it for them like nobody had done before,” one source remarked. “They used to provide him with aerial photographs so he could identify targets on the ground. He had many meetings with Israeli aerial photography specialists in Tel Aviv.”
The Israelis appear to have paid Ali considerably more than most of their Lebanese agents, and even threw a special party for him, expressing their gratitude.
Ali is described as being relatively well-educated, remaining cool and collected under questioning. At 67, he suffers from health problems, and retired from his ministry job three years ago.
He was brought into judicial custody by Lebanese Military Intelligence after it conducted its own interrogation of him, obtaining confessions with the help of information supplied by the Resistance’s intelligence apparatus.
Informed sources said Ali has also revealed secrets of a highly sensitive nature which are being kept strictly under wraps at present.
An indictment is expected soon. The arrest warrant issued for him by Judge Zein cites several articles of the penal code, which potentially carry the death penalty.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
Uprooted Palestinian
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