Israeli man indicted on espionage charges

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NAZARETH, Israel, July 30 (UPI) -- A 38-year-old man was indicted in Israel Monday for allegedly passing information on the Israeli military to Syria, documents show.

Iyad Juhari of the Druze village Majdal Shams was arrested last month following an investigation by the Israeli police and Shin Bet security services, Haaretz reported.

A gag order on the case was lifted Monday.

Juhari was indicted by a Nazareth Court on charges of holding contacts with a foreign agent and passing intelligence to an enemy.

The indictment alleges Juhari lived in Syria from 2002-2012, during which time he regularly gave Syrian intelligence agents information on Israeli military movements in northern Israel, Ynetnews.com reported.

The Israel Security Agency said Juhari admitted giving the information to Syria. He allegedly told them Syrian officials would tell him what kind of information to gather, which he collected while visiting his family in Israel during summer vacations.

The ISA said Juhari passed on information regarding Israeli military bases in northern Israel, including names, locations and size, and information about the deployment of soldiers near the border.

He also gave his Syrian contacts Hebrew books, an Israeli SIM card, an Israeli military radio he said he had found by chance and a map of the Golan Heights, the ISA said.

The ISA investigation further found Juhari enlisted two friends to help him gather information on the Israeli military. Authorities said several other people were taken into custody, but were later released.