BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Hezbollah's second-in-command said Friday his group was not willing to confirm the arrest of an Israeli lieutenant colonel and 10 other citizens on suspicion of having spied for the Lebanese militant group.
"We are not obliged to give intelligence information to Israel. Let them say what they want and we let the public opinion make the conclusions they want," said Sheikh Naim Qassem, according to the Hezbollah-run "An-Nour" radio station.
He said Hezbollah does not " usually ... talk about such matters."
This was Hezbollah's first comment on the incident since Israel disclosed Wednesday its security authorities had arrested Lt. Col. Omar al Heeb and 10 others, mostly from the officer's village.
The 11 suspects allegedly transferred information to Hezbollah over a year and a half in exchange for large sums of money and hundreds of pounds of drugs.
Hezbollah reportedly sought information on the Israeli army's deployment near the Lebanese border; the number of soldiers in border positions especially in the disputed Shabaa Farms that Hezbollah repeatedly attacks; the locations of the Israeli nighttime tank ambushes; maps and other information on an intelligence balloon; and cameras the Israelis deploy along the border.
They were interested also in the movements of the head of the northern command and the commander of the division deployed in the border area.
A statement from the Israel Defense Forces, with which al Heeb served, described the allegations as "extremely serious from both a security and moral standpoint."
