Lebanese man admits spying for Israel
A supposedly earnest Palestinian supporter and family man in Lebanon has confessed to being a long-time spy for Israel, authorities say.
Now awaiting a military trial in a Maraj, Lebanon, prison, Ali al-Jarrah, 50, has admitted a 25-year career of espionage, Lebanese investigators say, an elaborately disguised double life before his arrest last summer.
A white-haired school administrator at home but secretly an alleged valued spy to Israel, Jarrah was charged with sending reports and taking clandestine photographs of Palestinian groups and Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group, since 1983, The New York Times said Thursday.
People who said they thought they knew him told the Times they were still in shock over the extent and longevity of his alleged deceptions, the carefully orchestrated trips abroad, the unexplained cash, even a second wife.
His brother Yusuf, who is accused of helping him spy, was also arrested.
Investigators say Jarrah traveled often to Syria and to south Lebanon to photograph roads and convoys that could have been used to transport weapons to Hezbollah.
Reports say he also flew to Israel where he was debriefed at length. Investigators say he received more than $300,000 for his work from Israel.
His first wife, mother of his five children, maintains that he was tortured and is innocent. Investigators said he had a second wife living near the Syrian border, the Times said.
UPI
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