Espionage as a pervasive phenomenon in Lebanon

Beirut: In his 1974 masterpiece, Syrian playwright Mohammad Al Maghout tells the story of a small village infiltrated by spies — in reference of course to the Arab world. This of course was a few years after Syria had arrested a famous Israeli spy, Elie Cohen, operating in Damascus since the 1960s. The lead actor Nihad Quali in Maghout's timeless political play Da'et Tishreen famously says: "God curse these spies; a few days ago, I caught three of them under my pillow!"

The same story is being repeated in Lebanon today, nearly 40 years later, but this time by no means is it comedy or farce. Speaking of his country's infiltration by Israeli spies in early August, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said that over the past four years, more than 100 spies had been uncovered in Lebanon, some of whom occupied high places in society.

In recent weeks, Lebanon compiled a list of 150 cases of espionage that it plans to send to the UN, filing an official complaint against Israel.

Authorities insist that the list includes names from all communities — Sunni, Shiite, Maronite and Druze. Voices of dissent had been heard in recent weeks asking why was it that none of the accused were members of the Shiite community.

Nasrallah came out with a loud response on August 9 with a long list of spies at a press conference, the first among whom, Ahmad Nasrallah, was a Lebanese Shiite. The Hezbollah leader jokingly noted, "We are not related" then pointed to the fact that Nasrallah (the spy) had been planning to assassinate Rafik Hariri's sister Bahiyaa in 1993, and follow it up by killing the prime minister himself in Sidon. While planning his crime, Nasrallah claimed, the Israeli agent was tipping Hariri with information that a Hezbollah ring was trying to "liquidate him" and that heading this group were senior figures like top Hezbollah commander Emad Mughniya.

Charismatic

With Ahmad Nasrallah topping the list, it was no surprise that many other names quickly followed, of different ages, religions, and social backgrounds — all accused by the charismatic Hezbollah chief of being on the Israeli payroll, some since the early 1990s.

Most of them are now in Lebanese custody, he added, charged with trying to kill members of Hezbollah and allies like Speaker Nabih Berri, and heavyweights from the anti-Hezbollah camp like Samir Gagea.

The killings, Nasrallah noted, would have been blamed on Hezbollah and used to tarnish its image before the international community ahead of accusing them of the 2005 murder of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Needless to say, the row over espionage rings is causing more than just a stir in Lebanon, ranging from heated debate on whether to believe Nasrallah to demand to suspend certain BlackBerry services, since they cannot be monitored by the Lebanese state because of encryption.

Politically, contacts with Israel are an old crime that Lebanon is used to, dating back to 1982 during the days of Lebanese ex-president Bashir Jamal and then Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and his defence minister Ariel Sharon. What is surprising is the timing of unravelling of the cases — ahead of speculation that the international tribunal will blame certain Hezbollah figures for Hariri murder.

Identity

Another startling point is the identity of the accused — men (and in some cases women) of high social standing.

Of particular interest is the case of Fayez Karam, a retired officer and close confidante of Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun. He was arrested on charges of dealing with the Israelis — becoming the most senior politician to be accused of espionage for Israel.

Karam after all had reportedly accompanied Aoun to a meeting with Nasrallah "at least once."

Aoun was initially furious, thinking that the Lebanese government was behind it and that it was a doctored accusation.

Hezbollah officials reportedly contacted the ex-army commander, saying that they had looked into the matter and indeed, Karam was involved with high-level espionage for the Israelis. Aoun immediately distanced himself from the man, telling his followers, "Even Jesus Christ had treacherous followers!"