Hezbollah issues warning to CIA

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Hezbollah, in a statement on its news agency, al-Manar, said the CIA should be worried about more sensitive information than its officers' names.

Hezbollah through al-Manar last week broadcast the names of 10 people it claimed were CIA officers working under the cover of diplomatic posts at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood was quoted by The New York Times as saying not to put too much faith in what she said was Hezbollah propaganda.

"I think it's worth remembering that Hezbollah is a dangerous organization, with al-Manar as its propaganda arm," she said. "That fact alone should cast some doubt on the credibility of the group's claims."

Hezbollah said that if credibility was an issue "perhaps Ms. Youngblood should review her administration's numerous false statements made post 9/11."

Hezbollah was blamed for the 1985 assassination of Beirut's CIA station chief William Buckley and the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. Hezbollah, blames the CIA for killing "hundreds of civilians" when it tried to assassinate Islamic cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah in 1985.

"Disclosing the names of the CIA agents could be the agency's least problems," said a report on al-Manar. "Names, nicknames, rendezvous places, pay checks and other information mentioned in the report means that Hezbollah probably has more sensitive information about the CIA personnel operating in Lebanon."