The Lebanese General Directorate of General Security logo
The Lebanese General Directorate of General Security said on March 19 that it had arrested a 40-year-old Lebanese-Canadian, who was spying for Israel for five years.
According to the directorate’s official statement, the suspect, who was identified only by his initials F.G., was recruited by Unite 504 of the Israeli military’s Combat Intelligence Collection Corps in 2013. A Lebanese collaborator, who fled to Israel years ago, facilitated the recruitment of the suspect.
“He was tasked with recruitment of Lebanese people to penetrate Hezbollah’s environment, to collect security information for the enemy’s intelligence and to reach information about Israeli pilot Ron Arad,” the directorate’s statement reads.
Lieutenant Colonel Ron Arad, was an Israeli Air Force (IAF) weapon systems officer (WSO) who is officially described as missing in action since October 1986, when his plane was shot down over the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
The suspect was reportedly arrested while he was preparing to sneak into Israel from southern Lebanon. Israeli spies in Lebanon are known for crossing the separation line to hold meetings with their handlers.
Earlier this year, the Lebanese intelligence arrested a local Mossad agent, who had been involved in an assassination attempt of Palestinian official, Mohammed Hamdan, in 2017.
The arrest of these spies reveals the true scale of the Israeli intelligence operations inside Lebanon. These operations are an obvious violation of the Arab country’s sovereignty.
