Lebanese arrest Hezbollah-linked spy at Beirut airport

A senior operative with close ties to Hezbollah was arrested last week at Beirut's international airport on suspicion of spying for Israel, in what is being described as a major security breach for the Iran-backed group. The man was detained moments before boarding a flight to Iraq, according to a Lebanese judicial official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The suspect, a resident of southern Lebanon who is married to an Iraqi woman, is accused of being a high-level Israeli agent who provided critical intelligence to the Mossad. The judicial official stated that the intelligence he allegedly supplied was the decisive factor behind the targeted killings of four senior Hezbollah security commanders during 2024. The official named two of those commanders as Fuad Shukr, killed in an airstrike in August 2024, and Ibrahim Aqil, killed the following month.

Investigators believe the suspect exploited his trusted relationships within Hezbollah's leadership to gather a wide range of sensitive information, including details on the personal movements of senior figures, logistical data, and strategic targets. According to the official, the man used frequent trips to Iraq, ostensibly to...