Hizballah's Bust of Israeli Spies Shows Its Growing Power in Lebanon

ALB in TIME, here

"....Many Lebanese have long suspected that their country is crawling with Israeli spies, many of them left behind when Israel finally ended the 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. But Lebanese authorities claim that the spate of recent arrests is evidence that Israeli intelligence stepped up its operations in Lebanon following the summer 2006 war with Hizballah.,....suffered a blow last year with the assassination in Damascus of its security chief, Imad Mughniyah — ... Since then, Hizballah has stepped up its counter-intelligence operations — ironically, with the help of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces, the U.S.-trained national police force. ....

However damaging these alleged spy rings may or may not have been, their exposure marks a  political victory for Hizballah, and a sign of the depth of cooperation between Hizballah and the Lebanese government that the U.S. had hoped would defang the organization. A Hizballah intelligence official who spoke to TIME on condition of anonymity explained that the spy investigations had involved the ISF and Hizballah exchanging information. Hizballah had then taken over the surveillance, arrest, and initial interrogation of suspects. The organization did most of the footwork because many of the suspects are in southern Lebanon, where Hizballah is the de facto state security. But the Lebanese government is taking a more pro-active role against alleged Israeli spies than in the past, when many of those accused of working with Israel escaped punishment or were treated leniently because they belonged to politically influential Christian militia groups. This time, the accused may face the death penalty. And in order to spread the word that times have changed, Hizballah and the government may declare a short amnesty period for spies to turn themselves in, after which no quarter will be given, the Hizballah operative told TIME.

The spy arrests also signal the failure of the U.S. policy of boosting the Lebanese government as a hedge against Hizballah. Since 2006, the US has given $1 billion in aid to Lebanon (of which some $410 million went to the army and security institutions) in the hope of bolstering its pro-Western government against Hizballah and its patrons in Syria and Iran. But Hizballah's power and influence in Lebanon has grown over the same period, and the opposition coalition it heads looks set to win control of the government in parliamentary elections scheduled for June..."