BEIRUT: Four people accused of a kidnapping in Lebanon for Israel’s Mossad spy agency last month have been charged, a judicial official said on Thursday, after a retired security officer whose brother was linked to an Israeli airman’s disappearance went missing.
Israel has apprehended suspects in Lebanon before and Mossad is accused of regularly attempting to contact Lebanese people to facilitate its operations, while Lebanon has arrested dozens of people on suspicion of collaborating with Israel over the years.
Lebanese authorities believe the agency known for espionage operations outside of Israel’s borders was behind the disappearance of retired security officer Ahmad Shukr last month.
Shukr, whose brother Hassan is suspected of involvement in the 1986 capture of Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad, disappeared in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon.
Authorities have arrested and charged one Lebanese man and charged three more who remain at large.
The four were charged with “communicating with and working for Mossad within Lebanon in exchange for money, and carrying out the kidnapping of Ahmad Shukr,” a judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The three are “a Lebanese woman, a Lebanese-French man, and a Syrian-Swedish man,” the official said.
The Israeli airman Ron Arad, whose plane went down in southern Lebanon during the country’s civil war between 1975 and 1990, is now presumed dead and his remains were never returned.
Hassan Shukr was killed in 1988 in a battle between Israeli forces and local fighters, including from the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, a source close to the family told AFP last month, requesting anonymity.
Lebanon charges four accused of kidnapping for Israel’s Mossad
https://arab.news/gtyh6
Lebanon charges four accused of kidnapping for Israel’s Mossad
- Shukr disappeared in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon
- Authorities have arrested and charged one Lebanese man and charged three more who remain at large
1,965 Israeli violations recorded against Palestinians in February
- Head of Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission condemns attacks as a continuation of ‘terror’ against Palestinians
- Violations included assaults, uprooting trees, burning fields and preventing olive pickers from accessing their lands
LONDON: Israeli forces and settlers carried out 1,965 attacks across Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank in February, according to a report by the Palestinian Authority.
Muayyad Shaaban, head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, condemned the attacks as a continuation of the “terror” against the Palestinian people, their land and property.
The commission documented 1,454 attacks by Israeli forces and 511 by settlers, most of which were concentrated in the governorates of Hebron with 421 attacks, followed by Nablus with 340, Ramallah and Al-Bireh with 320, and East Jerusalem with 210 attacks.
Violations have included direct beatings of Palestinians, uprooting trees, burning fields, and preventing olive pickers from accessing their lands.
Israeli forces have seized land and demolished homes and agricultural facilities under the pretext of “security,” which has enabled settlers to expand their settlements, according to Wafa news agency.
Shaaban said: “What is taking place represents an organized methodology aimed at emptying the land of its owners and imposing an integrated racist colonial system.”
Israeli settlers have poisoned and uprooted a total of 1,314 trees, including 1,054 olive trees, in the areas of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus and Tulkarm. The olive groves have been a lifeline for Palestinians in the West Bank, with an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 families relying on the olive harvest for their livelihoods, according to the UN Human Rights Council.
In February, Israeli forces demolished 122 structures belonging to Palestinians, including 56 inhabited homes, nine uninhabited homes, 34 agricultural facilities and 18 sources of livelihood. More than one-third of these demolitions took place in Jerusalem, totaling 46 structures.
