Lebanese government announces it will submit formal complaint to UN Security Council over 'Israeli spy network'; Arrests made of suspects accused of assassination Islamic Jihad members last month
The Lebanese government has decided to submit a formal complaint against Israel following the uncovering of what it says what a spying network.
Beirut claims that Israel is behind a large spy ring active in the country, and which was responsible for, among other incidents, the assassination of two Islamic Jihad members, the Majzoub brothers, in May.
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The government said that it would submit the complaint "after the completion of a wide ranging investigation which has implicated Israel and uncovered its intentions, activities, and aggression."
The government plans to submit a detailed complaint to the UN, and attach all of the documents and testimonies collected during the investigation into the assassinations.
The aim of the complaint, Lebanese sources say, is to "harm Israel's credibility and reserve Lebanon's right to defend itself."
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud also rushed to blame Israel, while Hizbullah said that it was behind the arrests of members of the spy ring.
The US Ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman, criticized the organization in response, and said that Hizbullah's action testifies to an attempt to create a state within a state" – which would negatively impact Lebanon's attempt to receive security aid from the United States.
Lebanese media are following the development of the episode with much interest. One of the wanted men is a Palestinian thought to be a central figure in the cell, Hussein Khatab. Palestinian sources in Damascus told Lebanese newspaper al-Safir that Khatab is a suspect in assassinations of senior Palestinians in the Syrian capital, especially the assassination of Hamas senior member El el-Din Sheikh Khalil in September 2004.
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