Hezbollah recruited Lebanese Army soldiers, infiltrated surveillance cameras: Sources

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been able to access the country’s surveillance cameras without the knowledge of the Lebanese Army, and the Iran-backed group is recruiting Lebanese soldiers to help it penetrate security apparatuses, according to Western sources.

Over the last year, Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by the United States and most of the Arab world, has infiltrated intelligence equipment of the Lebanese state. Some of the equipment that Hezbollah was able to gain access to illicitly was provided by the US and other Western countries, sources told Al-Hadath.

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The sources familiar with the situation told Al-Hadath that a Lebanese soldier with the initials H.M. was tasked by Hezbollah to allow the group access to security cameras around the country. Sources told Al Arabiya this soldier’s name was Hamza Msheik.

The sources speaking to Al Arabiya said Hezbollah’s goal was to weaken the Lebanese Army, which the West continues to fund and strengthen to ensure that it is the sole possessor of weapons in the country.

A Western source added that this Hezbollah agent was working to recruit more Lebanese Army officers. So far, the group has been able to recruit a Lebanese Air Force officer with the initials, Aa.A.

The Hezbollah cell has successfully gained access to surveillance cameras at the Beirut International Airport as well as those of the Lebanese Navy. Hezbollah has access to the data rooms of both, which happened without the knowledge of the Lebanese Army, the sources said.

Washington and several other Western nations have been working for years to support the Lebanese Army, which remains one of the only standing pillars of the Lebanese state.

Despite criticism of US support to the Lebanese Army, which critics claim is controlled by Hezbollah, the United States and Europe have invested billions of dollars into the agency.

Germany recently invested over half a billion dollars in a program to train the Lebanese Navy.

The Western source told Al-Hadath that the only way to prevent Western weapons and capabilities from falling into the hands of Hezbollah was to increase end-use monitoring (EUM) methods and to more carefully scrutinize the parties involved with installing systems for the Army.

The State Department says that the Lebanese Army continues to comply fully with all EUM reporting and security requirements.

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