Lebanon arrests Iraqi claiming to be Israeli spy
Marvin Ben J. J., who was arrested in Lebanon about two months ago, tells his Lebanese interrogators that he was recruited by Israel to gather information about Ron Arad, Hezbollah, the Lebanese army and the Syrian army and recruit agents in Lebanon and Iraq.
The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Saturday that an Iraqi citizen arrested in Lebanon two months ago is suspected of collaborating with Israeli security officials and was even asked to gather information about the whereabouts of Israeli navigator Ron Arad, who was captured in October 1986 and is now presumed dead.
Two weeks before he was arrested, it was reported that he had been asked by a man named Ilan Nissim who approached him on Facebook to collect information about Ron Arad's burial place.
Nissim, who first spoke with the suspect Marvin Ben J. J. six months ago, also suggested that he gather information about Hezbollah, the Lebanese army and the Syrian army and recruit agents in Lebanon and Iraq. He turned to him after seeing his publications on the Internet against Arabs and Muslims.
According to the report, Marvin initially feared arrest and punishment, but was later persuaded to transfer the information to his Israeli handler.
Marvin was arrested by the General Security Service as part of a series of arrests intended to impede "subversive networks in Lebanon." According to the report, the arrest exposed a military-security institution called "TASA ELITE" run by "Israeli officers" from the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Also according to the report, the Mossad aims to launch operations in Arab countries, including Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, under the banner of "Combating Terrorism" and "Terrorism Supporting Countries."
The suspect was arrested on April 20 in the al-Sabtiya area east of Beirut. His origin is in the Dahuk district of northern Iraq.
During his interrogation, it was revealed that Marvin had been active in the Kurdish Pashmerga forces for the last six years, who have military cooperation with Israel. He also claimed that he was recruited after he entered Lebanon legally with his family in 2014.
In his interrogation, he noted that he transmitted the information through a special account he opened on Facebook. The security services in Lebanon revealed that it was Ilan Nissim who ran the security establishment among the Kurds.
The navigator Ron Arad was captured by the Lebanese on October 16, 1986, while participating in an attack on terrorist targets south of Sidon. The Phantom plane he was flying was damaged as a result of a technical malfunction. He and the pilot abandoned the plane in Lebanese territory. A helicopter that was sent to evacuate the two managed to rescue the pilot, but Arad was captured by the Shiite Amal organization and taken prisoner.
Attempts to release him through a deal failed, and in 1988 he was apparently transferred from the hands of Amal chief Mustafa Dirani to Iran or another Shiite organization. Arad's trace disappeared completely in May 1988. In the past it was claimed that Arad was killed by his captors on May 3, 1988, during a paratroopers' operation against Hezbollah in the village of Maidon, or was killed when he tried to escape.
(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
