Lebanon: Israeli spy toll increases

On Tuesday, Lebanon’s As-Safir newspaper published a detailed update on the 22 most recently arrested ‘Israeli spies’ – part of the spy hunt that has been going on since April of this year.

In case you were wondering, when we say detailed, we mean detailed. The newspaper report gave not only the names of the 22 suspects, but also their addresses and names of the companies where they are employed. Only three had their pictures in the paper – all middle-aged, but one appeared to have been beaten as his eyes were black and blue in the photograph.

According to the paper, seven of the 22 men have already confessed to spying for Israel, which is what’s been going on since April. Lebanese officials arrest a couple guys, from whom they get some information about other spies, more arrests follow, and of course more information, which leads to more arrests…you get the picture. Since the spy hunt began, 70 people have been arrested, the first few being Lebanese military officials implicated in the 2004 killing of Ghalib Awali, a top Hezbollah commander.

Apparently, those who have chosen to confess over the past few months have revealed Israel’s ultimate goal as the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the destruction of Hezbollah. They say that after the 2006 war with Lebanon, Israel worked hard to significantly expand its espionage networks in Lebanon.

Israel reportedly recruited their agents through job ads and bribes, meeting them either within Lebanon or in Western European countries.

cartoon from tmideast.wordpress.com