Alleged Israeli Army Spy for Hezbollah Is Detained

JERUSALEM -- A high-ranking Israeli army officer has been arrested and accused of spying for Hezbollah, a radical Muslim group that is considered one of Israel’s most implacable enemies.

Word of the unidentified lieutenant colonel’s arrest, and that of at least nine other people, came from his lawyer, Amnon Zichroni, who told Israeli media Wednesday that the officer was taken into custody six weeks ago on suspicion of providing information on troop deployments and other sensitive military matters in exchange for drugs and money.

Israeli officials were tight-lipped about the allegations. Neither the army nor the prime minister’s office had any immediate public response.

Israeli television reported that the detained officer had been friendly with a number of senior Israeli military and political officials, including former President Ezer Weizman. If the reports are true, the officer would be the highest-ranking agent recruited by Hezbollah.

One senior Israeli official characterized the case as disturbing mainly for its circumstances rather than for the quality of intelligence allegedly handed over to Hezbollah.

“These were operational details, not a question of larger strategic secrets or some such,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Zichroni said an indictment would be filed in a military court in coming days, accusing his client of espionage and drug dealing. The attorney said the officer, who denied all charges against him, had been refused access to an attorney during the first 20 days he was held.

The reports described the officer and the others arrested as Israeli Arabs from the Galilee, a region in Israel’s north that is home to many Druze and Bedouin. Israeli radio and television said those arrested included others who had served or were serving in the Israeli army.

Hezbollah, whose patrons are Iran and Syria, waged a nearly 2-decade-long guerrilla war to dislodge Israeli troops from the south of Lebanon. Israel did withdraw from the self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon in May 2000, but the frontier remains volatile, with occasional shelling and cross-border clashes.

Hezbollah does not accept the United Nations-drawn border and lays claim in Lebanon’s behalf to a disputed area called Shabaa Farms.

The espionage revelations are reminiscent of the arrest, in June, of an Israeli of Lebanese descent on suspicion of spying for Hezbollah. The case also comes at a time when tensions between Israel and its northern neighbor are running high over a Lebanese water project that Israel says illegally diverts water to which it is entitled.

Israeli radio reported that those in the alleged spying ring were asked to provide information on the army’s operations in the border region, including details about bases, maps and deployment, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of drugs. Hezbollah’s traditional base of operations has been Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, a major drug-producing area.

The officer’s hometown was not disclosed by his lawyer, but Israeli media reports said the man’s family denied any involvement by him in either drug-running or spying. Authorities were also said to be investigating a possible link between the espionage ring and a suspected cross-border infiltration in March that left six Israelis dead.

The burgeoning scandal threatened to overshadow the visit of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns. The envoy was reported to be carrying a plan setting out steps meant to lead to the establishment of an interim Palestinian state as early as next year, with full-fledged statehood by 2005.

Burns met Wednesday evening with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and was to see Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today. He was also to meet with Palestinian officials today but not Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.