arrested on suspicion of spying for the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, Israeli radio said Wednesday, October 23.
The Iran backed organization is seen as an enemy of the State of Israel, which it has vowed to destroy.
"The officer, a lieutenant colonel, was arrested on suspicion of providing Hezbollah with information on troop deployments in exchange for money and drugs, " The Associated Press quoted Amnon Zichroni, the officer’s lawyer as saying.
ARAB SOLDIERS
Security sources quoted by the French news agency AFP and other media identified the officer, whose name was not released, as "an Israeli Bedouin" who they said was arrested several weeks ago along "with a dozen" other Arab soldiers.
The AP reported that Lawyer Zichroni said the officer was arrested a month and half ago in an operation that netted another "nine suspects." He stressed that his client denied the accusations.
An official in the prime minister’s office, which reports on the actions of the General Security Service, had no comment, news reports said.
INDICTMENT FILED
An indictment will be filed against the officer in a military court on Monday on espionage and drug dealing counts, Zichroni said. Analysts say that the prospect of an Israeli army officer cooperating with Hezbollah is almost unheard of.
During an 18-year guerrilla war that ended in May, 2000 with Israel’s withdrawal from a strip of south Lebanese territory, Hezbollah often fired rockets at Israeli border villages.
It was not clear how the latest revelations would effect operations of the Israeli Army which is to increase security following another suicide attack near a bus in northern Israel on Monday, October 21, in which at least 14 people died.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing saying it was in "retaliation for the series of massacres committed by the criminal enemy against our people."
