BEIRUT: The dispute concerning Israeli spy activity in Lebanon intensified over the weekend, with officials from both countries speaking bullishly on the issue. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon on Saturday confirmed that Israel was operating spy networks in Lebanon, an admission which prompted a swift riposte from Lebanese Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud.
Speaking during a visit close to the Blue Line, Yaalon said that Israel would continue its espionage activities in Lebanon for as long as Hizbullah posed a threat.
“The moment Hizbullah renewed their attacks, we began to collect intelligence,” Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted him as saying. “We will stop when Hizbullah disarms itself and the [Israel-Lebanon] border is a border of peace.”
Baroud responded with a promise to root out all Israeli spy networks currently operating in Lebanon.
“Our enemy’s declaration of pursuing its espionage activity in Lebanon is rude and constitutes a clear violation of international resolutions; thus we have no choice but to stand firm against Israeli spying networks,” Baroud said during a tour of southern villages on Saturday.
The interior minister added that any espionage activity was targeted at all Lebanese – not merely Hizbullah members – irrespective of where in the country it takes place.
The issue of spy networks resurfaced on October 18 when suspected Israeli reconnaissance devices were blown up in south Lebanon.
“At least two” of the devices exploded near the villages of Mais al-Jabal and Houla, according to a spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
UNIFIL subsequently launched an investigation to determine the cause of the blasts and initial indications suggested the equipment was planted during the 2006 summer war between Lebanon and Israel, a claim that Hizbullah rejected.
The Shiite group maintains that Israel planted the devices after the conflict was ended under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which stipulates that Lebanese sovereignty not be breached.
In remarks printed in Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa on Sunday, Tyre MP Nawaf Musawi, from Hizbullah’s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, suggested that Israel was conducting a war with Lebanon through its spy networks and ongoing violations of Lebanese territory by land, sea and air.
“Israel has the right to collect investigatory information from inside Lebanon in all means possible,” Yaalon was quoted as saying on Saturday. “Israeli secret service agents are maintaining their activities inside the Lebanese territories.”
More than 70 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel since the beginning of the year, including a number of Lebanese military and security officials.
Yaalon’s comments are likely to trouble international envoys in Lebanon and Security Council officials, many of whom expressed concern last week at the deteriorating security situation along the Blue Line – the boundary of Israeli military withdrawal from Lebanon and de facto border between the two countries.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams on Friday urged restraint from both sides, warning that any additional violations of Resolution 1701 “could easily destabilize the situation in the area and increase the threat of potential conflict.”
Yaalon pointed to last week’s exchange of rocket fire between positions in Israel and south Lebanon as justification for continuing espionage programs.
“We cannot get used to a situation when our territories in the north and south become the target of rockets while we sit still, without a harsh response that thwarts the succession of such attacks,” he said.
“When we are in conflict with an enemy,” he continued, “we gather information about them.”
Baroud said Lebanon had “total determination in uncovering spying networks … especially [regarding Israel’s] persistence in planting spying networks in Lebanon.”
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