Hezbollah busts CIA, Israel

Over the past two weeks, new information has been pouring out of Lebanon revealing the intensity and sophistication of the espionage and counterespionage activities there. Recently, Lebanese security officials aided by the terrorist organization Hezbollah, have busted a number of US and Israeli informants prompting the CIA to close down operations in Beirut.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Lebanon has been a hotbed of espionage activity for decades. Both United States and Israel have been intensely concerned with events in the small Middle Eastern country which serves as a nexus of political activity for the region.

Over the last decade, US and Israeli agents have managed to recruit spies working in the Lebanese telecommunications industry. With information provided by their recruits, the Israelis in particular have been able to access computer and telephone data for years. The level of access is astounding. The Israelis have been able to go so far as to fake call logs and listen to secret conversations using cell phones, even if those phones have been turned off.

However, Hezbollah agents and Lebanese security officials have been conducting their own counter espionage operations. Dozens of spies and informants have been uncovered by the Lebanese and many have been charged with spying for Israel. Although the precise level of compromise is unknown, the CIA believes that Hezbollah and Lebanese counter espionage efforts have effectively compromised operations in Beirut, so to protect their agents and informants, the CIA has ceased their operations there.

The situation is politically embarrassing particularly for the United States. The US government has a lukewarm relationship with Lebanon, but has been working actively to improve it. The Bush and Obama administrations have given the Lebanese government more than $1 billion in various forms of aid since 2006. The Obama administration has already proposed an additional $236 million in aid for the coming year. Despite US efforts to obtain more influence in Lebanon, the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is also very politically active, holds 16 of the 30 seats in the Lebanese cabinet.

The United States and Israel are particularly concerned with events in Lebanon because that country has close political ties with both Iran and Syria. Iran and Syria are regarded as chief political adversaries of both Israel and the US, so monitoring what happens in Lebanon, a next-door neighbor to Israel, is of particular importance.

Unfortunately for the US and Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran understand that both Mossad and the CIA are making maximum efforts there and they have responded with maximizing counterintelligence operations. Periodically, these counterintelligence operations uncover spies who are quickly arrested.

The shutdown of CIA operations in Beirut comes as that country's security officials have revealed the sophistication and depth of the Israeli and CIA intelligence operations there. It is believed that Israeli intelligence services have penetrated so deeply into Lebanon's computer and telecommunications infrastructure, that very little can be done to stop their operations. 

Secret Archives of the Saints, Subscribe Today

Although the Lebanese can arrest spies and uncover parts of the Israeli spy network in Lebanon, they cannot altogether stopped Israeli espionage activities. This has some Lebanese upset who say that the government has not done enough to secure that countries computer and telecommunications networks. Lebanese officials claim that an all out effort to stop the Israelis would be prohibitively expensive. 

Still, Lebanese and Hezbollah agents are more sophisticated than their Western counterparts may be willing to publicly admit. And with support from Syrian and Iranian allies, and good old fashion detective work, their forces are occasionally able to deliver embarrassing setbacks to both Israel and the United States.

The current admission by the CIA that their intelligence network in Lebanon has been dangerously compromised is one such setback. But the political realities of the complex situation in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East virtually guarantees that Mossad and CIA  spying operations will continue in Lebanon, even if there are occasional embarrassing setbacks.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'