Hezbollah worried about spies

BEIRUT, Lebanon, April 1 (UPI) -- Hezbollah lawmakers in Lebanon complained U.S. pressure on the national telecommunications sector was a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.

Washington had asked Lebanese officials for data on the national telecommunications sector. Local media reacted earlier this month to the request, saying the effort amounted to spying.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut issued the request in April 2009, though it was turned down by Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, who served as telecommunications minister in the previous government.

Mohammad Fneish, the Lebanese minister of state for administrative reform and Hezbollah member, said the Washington effort was illegal, Beirut correspondents for Iran's Press TV reported.

Fneish called on lawmakers to address the U.S. inquiries. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in early March said he was concerned by the request because of the strategic partnership between Washington and Hezbollah arch-foe Israel.

Hezbollah during heightened border tensions with Israel in October said it "managed to uncover a spy device" in south Lebanon. Hezbollah said it found the device planted on telecommunications equipment following the 34-day conflict with militants in the Shiite resistance movement in 2006.