Now This Is Disturbing....

The Times reports:

Lebanese authorities have broken up an apparent Israeli spy ring whose members have claimed responsibility for a string of killings of leading Hezbollah and Palestinian militants since 1999.

The spies’ confessions, reported extensively in the Lebanese media, provide a rare glimpse into the clandestine battle between the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency and the Hezbollah organisation and its militant Palestinian allies.

....

The Israeli network was discovered after the killing last month of two Islamic Jihad officials, the brothers Nidal and Mahmoud Majzoub, in a car bomb blast in Sidon, Lebanon. Lebanese intelligence officers last week arrested Mahmoud Rafeh, 59, a retired policeman from the Lebanese town of Hasbaya, his wife and two children, and discovered bomb-making materials, code machines and other espionage equipment in his home.

Mr Rafeh confessed to the killings of the Majzoubs and to working for Mossad since 1994. He also confessed that his cell was responsible for killing three leading Hezbollah commanders since 1999, as well as Jihad Jibril, the son of Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command

Read it here.

If there was any hope of getting Hizbullah to disarm, forget it now.

But..., is it true?

Walid Jumbatt, the Druze leader, has already claimed that the report is bogus and was cooked up just to justify Hizbullah intransigence.

Either way, true or fabrication, this development makes matters in Lebanon much more difficult and serves as a reminder of how dangerous and devious is the situation in that unfortunate country.

From Beirut to the Beltway has a lot of questions, but no answers. The spinage on this thing is getting out of control. [here]