BEIRUT (AFP) – 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.

Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, who was telecommunications minister at the time of the US request, confirmed that he had turned it down.

"They had requested access to very detailed information on the mobile phone service providers in Lebanon -- the stations, the antennas, technical information," Bassil told AFP. "No one should request this information, whoever they are and for whatever end.

A Lebanese arrested last month on suspicion of spying for Israel on Monday confessed to his involvement a 2004 bomb attack that killed Hezbollah official Ghaleb Awali, a security source told AFP.

"We have almost solid proof that he was behind the bombing, which he does not deny, although he has backtracked a few times on his confession," the source said on condition of anonymity.

. . . Retired security official Mahmud Qassem Rafeh, 63, was sentenced to death last month for "collaboration and espionage on behalf of the Israeli enemy," according to the verdict handed down by a military tribunal.

He was also convicted of involvement in the 2006 car bomb murder in the southern coastal town of Sidon of brothers Mahmoud and Nidal Mazjoub, members of the Islamic Jihad group.

"The US 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 US embassy in the matter," he said.

BEIRUT – Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group has beefed up security measures following January's killing of a top Hamas operative in Dubai and openly asked Lebanese authorities to tighten border controls against would be assassins.

Hassan Nasrallah attended a dinner banquet in Damascus Thursday hosted by President Bashar al-Assad in honour of his visiting Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the official agency said without giving further details.

But Hezbollah's Al-Manar television in Lebanon reported that Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad met to discuss "the latest developments in the region, and Zionist threats against Lebanon and Syria."

Among those captured was Ali Mussa Daqduq, a senior Hezbollah operative. Daqduq has a pedigree with Lebanese Hezbollah, an Iranian-created operation, and Iran's Qods Force. Daqduq is a 24-year veteran of Hezbollah, who has commanded both a Hezbollah special operations unit and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s security detail.

"In 2005, he was directed by senior Lebanese Hezbollah leadership to go to Iran and work with the Qods Force to train Iraqi extremists," said Brig Gen Bergner.

The aircraft, an Airbus A300B2 operated by Iran Air as IR655, was flying from Bandar Abbas, Iran, to Dubai, UAE, when it was destroyed by the U.S. Navy's guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes, killing all 290 passengers and crew aboard, including 66 children,[1] ranking it the seventh among the deadliest airliner fatalities.

Operation Praying Mantis was an April 18, 1988 attack by U.S. naval forces in retaliation for the Iranian mining of the Persian Gulf and the subsequent damage to an American warship.

. . . This battle was the largest of the five major U.S. surface engagements since the Second World War, which also include the Battle of Chumonchin Chan during the Korean War, the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Battle of Dong Hoi during the Vietnam War and the Action in the Gulf of Sidra in 1986.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
Beyond that though Israel might be hard pressed if a situation developed out of it where it had to face Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah and the Lebanese army along that border, and Syria streaming up the Golan Heights with the U.S. not being able to do much as it tried to contain Iran with Naval operations in the Gulf and cross border incursions from Iraq and Afghanistan into Iraq. Should some other Arab nation enter into it at that point, well a lot of Israelis could end up regretting it as well as the rest of the world.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
The scary part is with the world economy in the precarious situation it is and hyper inflation possibly ticking like a time bomb because of bail outs and printing too much money and net to debt ratios, the governments and their politicians might prefer a more face saving way out by crashing it through this kind of war.

Troubling times, that we definitely need to hope will pass in my humble opinion.

Hezbollah, which started with only a small militia, has grown to an organization with seats in the Lebanese government, a radio and a satellite television-station, and programs for social development. Hezbollah maintains strong support among Lebanon's Shi'a population, and gained a surge of support from Lebanon's broader population (Sunni, Christian, Druze) immediately following the 2006 Lebanon War, and is able to mobilize demonstrations of hundreds of thousands.

Originally posted by December_Rain
reply to post by Jakes51

---

What the Yahoo article failed to mention that izbollah is already part of Lebanon Govt.

Hezbollah, which started with only a small militia, has grown to an organization with seats in the Lebanese government, a radio and a satellite television-station, and programs for social development. Hezbollah maintains strong support among Lebanon's Shi'a population, and gained a surge of support from Lebanon's broader population (Sunni, Christian, Druze) immediately following the 2006 Lebanon War, and is able to mobilize demonstrations of hundreds of thousands.

en.wikipedia.org...-CFR-3

I really cannot understand why USA would ask Lebanon for the details of telecommunication. That being said I find it highly unlikely Israel will actually attack Lebanon as since the 2009 Gaza attack it has been under constant heat. Any attack this year may result in highly disastrous long term consequences for Israel.