Lebanon arrests two accused of spying for Israel
Two people accused of spying for Israel have been arrested in Lebanon, the army said in a statement on Saturday.
"The Army Directorate of Intelligence, after a series of investigations in the Bekaa region, detained two people belonging to a network of espionage and terrorism linked to the Israeli enemy," the statement said.
"They admitted gathering information on political party offices and monitoring the movements of party figures for this enemy," it said, adding that they were detained on Friday.
"Communications devices and sophisticated cameras" were found in the possession of the accused, the statement said. An army official declined further comment because of the continuing investigation.
The Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon where the army investigation took place is considered to be a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah movement.
Hezbollah and Israel fought a devastating 34-day war in 2006 that left much of Lebanon”s infrastructure destroyed and claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Israel, which also invaded Lebanon in 1982 and kept troops in a "security zone" in the south until May, 2000, has been previously linked by security sources to assassinations of public figures.
In June 2006, the Lebanese army uncovered what it said was an Israel-linked network it accused of being behind the killing the previous month of senior Islamic Jihad leader Mahmoud Majzoub and his brother Nidal in a car bombing in the southern port city of Sidon.