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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Hezbollah chief warns govt against Israeli spies |
| 2010-03-02 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned the Lebanese government on Monday against sharing telecommunications information with the United States, saying any such move would be tantamount to collaborating with the Israeli enemy. The Shiite militant leader also called for any Lebanese citizens convicted of spying for the Jewish state in a series of trials in recent months to be hanged. "The U.S. embassy is sending letters to ministries and security forces asking for information," Nasrallah said via video link to his supporters massed in Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs. "This is dangerous as it is a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, but its real danger lies elsewhere," he said. "Because of the strategic relationship and unity between the United States and Israel ... any information gathered through such requests, like spy rings, reaches Israelis." "In other words, it is giving Israel information by proxy on a silver platter, and we hope there are no Lebanese citizens collaborating with the U.S. embassy in the matter," he said. A U.S. request for confidential data on Lebanon's telecommunications sector prompted an emergency meeting of Lebanese MPs and top officials on Monday, after local media accused Washington of spying. The request by the U.S. embassy in Lebanon was submitted in April last year but was turned down by then-energy minister Gebran Bassil, reports said. Bassil on Monday confirmed to AFP that he had turned down the embassy's request for "very detailed information on the mobile phone service providers in Lebanon -- the stations, the antennas, technical information." U.S. embassy officials would not comment. Nasrallah also demanded the death penalty for convicted spies as Lebanese authorities press on with an expanding crackdown on suspected Israeli spy rings launched last year. |
| Posted by:Fred |