Another Army Colonel Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for Israel
Military intelligence arrested several days ago an army colonel named Shahid Toumiyeh less than ten days after the arrest of Col. Mansour Diab on suspicion of spying for Israel, Lebanese media reported Monday.
Sources told An Nahar daily that Toumiyeh, who is the brother of four officers, was collaborating with Israel for more than 10 years. Toumiyeh hails from Beit Mallat-Akkar.
Security sources told As Safir daily that another man, who is a retired customs officer, was arrested along with Toumiyeh.
The army colonel admitted to collaborating with Israel, according to the sources. But another source told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that the officer hasn”t been charged yet unlike some media outlets reported Sunday.
A court official said during the weekend that four more people were charged with collaborating with Israel, raising to 23 the number of suspected spies who have been charged in the last few months.
Since the recent crackdown began in April, Lebanon has arrested 35 people on suspicion of spying for Israel, Police commander Brig. Gen. Ashraf Rifi told The Associated Press.
Army chief commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji has vowed to continue the crackdown against Israeli spies and the military sent a message to its troops warning them against Israeli attempts to infiltrate the army.
The news of the new arrests in Lebanon came as the Jewish state”s media reported that an Israeli army colonel shot himself to death with his personal gun. They said the officer was "in charge of delicate security and intelligence affairs."
Meanwhile, al-Hayat said that Nasser Nader, whom Rifi had described the most important suspect, had a double mission: Monitoring the activities of Hizbullah leaders and second planning for the assassination of the group”s top officials.
Initial investigation revealed that Nader was directly involved in the assassination of Ghaleb Awali in July 19, 2004 in Beirut”s southern suburbs. Awali was a senior commander of Hizbullah”s military arm, the Islamic Resistance.
Al-Hayat said that although Nader hasn”t admitted yet, he might have been the person who pushed the button of the remote control that triggered the powerful explosive charge in Awali”s vehicle.
Nader has also reportedly traveled to Israel several times, including a visit to the Jewish state by sea in 2002.