Lebanon claims it confiscated Israeli 'spy' equipment

Military experts discover 2 long range spying systems in mountains outside Beirut; army acts based on tip from Hizbullah.

By YAAKOV KATZ, AP
lebanese army 298 ap (photo credit: AP)
lebanese army 298 ap
(photo credit: AP)
Israel sustained a possible blow to its intelligence-gathering capabilities on Wednesday, after the Lebanese military claimed soldiers discovered and dismantled two spy cameras planted in the country’s mountains by Israel.
One of the long-range spying systems was placed on Mount Sannine, which overlooks Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, and the second was on Mount Barouk, southeast of the capital, the army said in a statement.
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The system found on Sannine included a camera, a device to send images and a third to receive signals, the Lebanese Army said. The device found on Barouk was “much more complicated.”
The army said it plans to remove the cameras and urged citizens to inform authorities about any suspicious objects they find. The military was tipped off about the systems by Hizbullah, the statement said.
“Israel isn’t satisfied with spies and aerial photography,” Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on television Wednesday night, accusing Israel of spying on Lebanon “with radars hidden underground that send pictures day and night. I thank our brothers in the Lebanese Army who have been working since morning in the snow to dismantle this equipment.”
“Israel is still a strong country,” he acknowledged, “but not as strong as it used to be.”
Nasrallah assured his supporters that Hizbullah was ready for any IDF attack in the future.
“The resistance is working day and night, and training day and night,” he said.
The IDF had no immediate comment.
In September, Lebanon filed a complaint to the United Nations, alleging that Israel had set up a spy ring in the country. It reportedly supplied the UN with a list of names of suspected Israeli agents.
According to Lebanese reports, security forces in the country have arrested over 100 suspected Israeli spies since 2009.