More Israeli spies captured in Lebanon

Mustafa Dhia Allah

Jumada' al-Ula' 06, 1430 2009-05-01

Occupied Arab World

by Mustafa Dhia Allah (Occupied Arab World, Crescent International Vol. 38, No. 3, Jumada' al-Ula', 1430)

Three more Israeli spy rings were uncovered in Lebanon leading to the arrest of several persons last month bringing the total to nine arrests over the year. Three persons—two Lebanese and one Palestinian—were arrested on April 25. The Lebanese were identified as Ali Mantash and Robert Kfoury, and the Palestinian as Mohammad Awad. About 10 days earlier, a retired general, Adib al-Alam who had worked for the Lebanese intelligence agency, the Internal Security Service, was arrested together with his wife and nephew Jospeh. Information revealed byAlam led to the April 25 arrests.

These come on the heels of arrests made last February and November in what were described as Israel’s Lebanese agents. What is striking about the latest arrests is that one of the cells was uncovered by Hizbullah, the Islamic resistance movement that drove the Zionist occupation army out of much of Lebanon in May 2000. The other cell was captured by Lebanon’s Internal Security Service. According to Lebanese media reports, the men used special equipment given by the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad to mark targets that the Israeli army attacked during its July-August 2006 war on Lebanon.

The earlier arrests were also reported by Israel News based on news stories from the Lebanese daily, Al-Akhbar of April 17. Roee Nahmias of Israel News wrote on April 17: “According to the report, the arrests were carried out following strict and precise coordination between Lebanon’s Internal Security Service and Hizbullah, with each party responsible for the arrest of one cell.” Hizbullah arrested a cell that included three people. The arrests were carried out after a meeting on April 15 in which its liaison officer for internal security Wafiq Safa presented information on the cell that was keeping surveillance of Hizbullah members in Lebanon.

According to reports from Lebanese sources, retired general Alam was recruited in 1994 while visiting his hometown of Rmeish near Bint Jbeil. At that time, he was still in regular service.Bint Jbeil in South Lebanon was under Israeli occupation, referred to as Israel’s “security zone” after the Zionists were driven out from much of Lebanon by Hizbullah fighters but continued to occupy a 20-kilometre wide strip of Lebanese territory along the border. Hizbullah launched its resistance to Zionist occupation in October 1983 that gradually intensified in the face of Israeli barbarism. By 1985, the Zionists were forced to flee from most of southern Lebanon but retained military control of the 20-kilometre strip. Hizbullah continued its resistance against the Zionists and finally succeeded in driving them out of all of Lebanon except the Sheba Farms.

During his 1994 visit, Alam was approached by a fellow villager who told him he was working for Mossad. He proposed to him to join him telling him the Israelis pay very well. Lured by extra cash, he decided to betray his country and people and work for the Israelis. After recruitment, Alam secretly went to Israel to meet his handlers and undergo an espionage training course. Under questioning, he confessed to undergoing three additional courses since his initial recruitment and being armed with three advanced communication devices, a camera and objects that had secret compartments. One of the devices he was given appeared to be a regular radio, but in reality gave a signal whenever messages were transmitted from the Israeli handlers. After receiving the signal Alam would connect the device to a hidden compartment in a mini-bar given to him, and would receive a coded message. As they continued their investigation, the internal security service intelligence personnel uncovered four messages that were concealed in the mini-bar.

One of the messages Alam sent to his Israeli handlers earlier this year said he felt he was in danger of being exposed, and that he had destroyed some of his equipment and documents. In their response, his handlers tried to calm him down and assured him he was not in danger of exposure. Under questioning, Alam confessed to regularly traveling to Europe – especiallyItaly, Belgium, Cyprus and Greece, to meet with his Israeli handlers. Under their advice, he set up a maid recruitment service to avoid suspicion. On each trip, he would receive large sums of money amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, sometimes more depending on the degree of usefulness of his intelligence work for the zionists.

Missions assigned to Alam and the other spies included marking military and civilian targets in Lebanon using a GPS mechanism. His Israeli handlers were so pleased with his work that in 2004, Alam’s missions were broadened to include undercover trips to Syria for similar espionage activity. Lebanese investigators said Alam’s nephew Joseph was the most resistant of all the detainees in divulging information he had passed on to the Israelis or what his assignments were. Recruited separately from his uncle, Joseph was kept unaware by his Israeli handlers that his uncle was also an agent for some time.

In recent months, there has been a spate of arrests of Israeli spies in Lebanon. Last February, Hizbullah arrested Kamal Marwan Faqih in Nabatiyah on charges of spying for Israel. He is believed to have sold dozens of cars to Hezbullah officials with tracking and listening devices inside them, on behalf of Israeli intelligence. He was handed over to the Lebanese authorities for further investigation and prosecution according to the law. Faqih, a Lebanese citizen, was recruited by Mossad in France in the mid-1990s. Faqih’s arrest was preceded by the arrest of another person, Yussef Sader in Beirut. He was an employee of Middle East Airlines. In early 2007, then Lebanese government led by Fuad Siniora had attempted to wrest control of security at Beirut airport from Hizbullah which the latter resisted. It also resisted the government taking control of Hizbullah’s security operations. Given the penetration of Israeli spies in Lebanese society and going as far up as some ministers in the government, Hizbullah’s refusal to relinquish such control would have exposed it to great danger. Arrests over the last few months have confirmed all of Hizbullah’s fears about security and Israeli threats to Lebanon’s independence.

A massive blow was dealt to Hizbullah with the assassination in February 2008 of Hizbullah commander and security chief, Imad Mughniyah. While Israel and its Western backers tried to pin the blame on Syria because Mughniyah was assassinated in Damascus, Hizbullah Secretary General Shaikh Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah had no doubt that it was the work of Mossad. He vowed to respond to Israel in an appropriate manner. With the arrest of numerous Israeli agents in Lebanon, Hizbullah is slowly and patiently dismantling Israel’s spy rings in Lebanon. Last October, two Lebanese brothers were arrested in Al-Marej, a town in the Bekaa Valley and charged with spying for Israel. The ring is said to have helped organize the February 2008 assassination of Mughniyah. One of the arrested men, Ali al-Jarrah, is the uncle of the 911 hijacker Ziad al-Jarrah. While there has been intense speculation that Mossad had a hand in the 911 crime, the arrest of the Jarrah brothers last October and the fact that they are linked to Ziad al-Jarrah provides conclusive proof of Israeli involvement. The Jarrah brothers had worked for Israel for more than 20 years. Ali al-Jarrah was a member of the Palestinian group Fatah al-Intifadah that operated near the Syrian border. He was caught with sophisticated communication devices.

If Hizbullah and Lebanon’s Internal Security Service can dismantle Israeli spy rings in Lebanon, it will cripple Israeli operations to a great extent. The Zionist state has always relied on such agents to do its dirty work. The spate of arrests will definitely undermine Israeli freedom of action and the people of Lebanon will be able to live a life free from the crimes perpetrated by the Zionists and their Lebanese agents.