Lebanon busts 'Israeli spy ring' that includes Nepalese nationals

Two of the five arrested for allegedly passing on information to Israeli embassy staff originated from Nepal

MENA

2 min read

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26 January, 2017

The five are accused of passing on information to Israeli embassy workers [LightRocket]

Five people were arrested in Lebanon on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in an Israeli spy ring.

The Lebanese General Security, one of Lebanon's key security agencies, said in a statement that they had exposed a Mossad network and expected to make further arrests in the near future as more information was made available.

No formal charges have been made and the accused have not been named, while the security forces continue their search for other members of the spy ring.

Two of the accused were Lebanese citizens, two Nepalese and one was born in Palestine.

The authorities were first alerted to their involvement after they each made contact with the Israeli embassies in Turkey, Jordan, Britain and Nepal.

The General Security statement reports that information was transferred to the embassy staff during these phone calls.

It has not been a good month for Mossad agents. Algerian national security reported cracking a Mossad spy ring involving a large number of African nationals on 13 January.

Lebanon and Israel remain in an official state of war. The last major conflict between Israel and Lebanese paramilitary group Hizballah was fought over 33 days of the summer of 2006.

Mossad and other Israeli agencies are blamed for several assassinations in the country, the last of which was the killing of Hizballah commander Hassan Lakkis in December 2013.

Lebanon has claimed to have uncovered several Mossad-run spies over the past years, including high-profile politicians and civil servants.