Lebanon: Sidon explosion was third Israeli spying device

Reports from Radio Lebanon say explosion heard in Sidon area was IDF operation to destroy third spying device.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV KATZ
Lebanese Soldiers 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Lebanese Soldiers 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
A mysterious explosion near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon reported Wednesday evening was from the destruction of a third Israeli spying device that was destroyed by IAF aircraft, Lebanese radio station Radio Lebanon reported Thursday.
The device was said to have been planted in the coastal water near the Lebanese city. No further details were revealed.
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The army has denied any reports of IDF activity near Sidon Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, Israel sustained a possible blow to its intelligence-gathering capabilities as the Lebanese military claimed its soldiers had discovered and dismantled two spy cameras planted in the country’s mountains by Israel.
One of the long-range spying systems was reportedly placed on Mount Sannine, which overlooks Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, and the second was said to be on Mount Barouk, southeast of the capital, the army said in a statement.
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 urged Lebanese 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.
Associated Press contributed to this report.