Lebanon complains to UN about alleged Israel espionage

Lebanon has complained to the United Nations about alleged spying on the Israel, the office of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said Thursday.

Lebanon considers itself at war with Israel and spying for, or collaborating with the neighboring country can be punishable by death.

Beirut also officially asked the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to help return two Lebanese spy suspects who reportedly fled across the heavily fortified border to Israel earlier this week.

The development came on the heels of a government campaign that has resulted in over a dozen arrests of suspects said to have been spying for Israel is part of a Lebanese crackdown on alleged Israeli intelligence networks in which at least 25 people have been apprehended.

With elections due on June 7, the arrests of suspected Israeli agents have taken on a political dimension in Lebanon's power struggle between pro-West and opposition factions. Hezbollah said yesterday that al-Homsy was a member of the pro-West Future Movement led by Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Lebanon prime minister Rafik Hariri.

The Forward Movement admitted he was a member of the organization but distanced itself from al-Homsy, saying it had no prior knowledge of his alleged involvement with Israel.