'Hezbollah agents operating in Israel'

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah

HAIFA, Israel – Hezbollah has an advanced spy network operating inside Israel consisting of "tens" of agents, mostly Arab-Israelis who provide the Lebanon-based terror group with strategic information such as rocket targets and locations of military installations, a senior terror leader told WorldNetDaily in an interview.

"Hezbollah agents have penetrated Palestine," said Abu Oudai, a chief rocket coordinator for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank. "[Hezbollah] receives extremely high-quality information from their agents inside Palestine. We are talking about detailed maps of neighborhoods, locations of military bases and regular information every day from many sources to help the heroes (Hezbollah) fire rockets more accurately into [northern Israel].

The Al Aqsa Brigades, the declared "military wing" of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, is responsible for scores of shooting attacks, rocket launchings and, together with Islamic Jihad, every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years.

Israel says senior Brigades leaders, particularly the group's cell in Nablus in the northern West Bank, coordinate their attacks with Hezbollah and receive funding from Iran and Syria funneled through Hezbollah channels. Several Brigades leaders have spoken openly to WorldNetDaily about their group's affiliation with Hezbollah.

Since Israel started its military campaign in Lebanon last month following a Hezbollah attack, the Lebanese militia has fired more than 2,000 rockets into northern Israeli cities, including into Haifa, the country's third largest. About one-third of the Israeli population is under rocket threat.

While Hezbollah rockets lack guidance systems, the projectiles are launched from specific areas in Lebanon using a rocket's known trajectory and travel distance to score hits on particular Israeli towns.

Israeli security officials say they have been surprised by the accuracy of Hezbollah's rocket attacks. Several Katyushas have scored direct hits on Israeli military installations and other strategic sites.

Yesterday, 12 Israeli soldiers were killed and another 12 were wounded by a Hezbollah rocket attack on a military post at Kfar Giladi in the Upper Galilee.

Abu Oudai, who heads Al Aqsa's rocket infrastructure, told WorldNetDaily "tens" of Hezbollah agents inside Israel provide Hezbollah with targeting information. He said after rocket attacks, Hezbollah agents send the terror group information on hits and misses.

Asked if the regular Israeli and international television footage of the aftermath of rocket strikes help Hezbollah with their targeting, Abu Oudai replied, "Hezbollah doesn't need help. The information they get from their agents is excellent."

Israeli intelligence officials tell WND they are "very aware" of a possible Hezbollah spy network inside Israel and have been working to crack it.

At least 12 suspected Hezbollah agents have been arrested in Israel the past year, including Jasaan Athamleh, leader of an Arab-Israeli political coalition. Athamleh was arrested seven months ago along with his brother and is thought to be a senior Hezbollah agent. It recently was revealed a Canadian professor accused of spying for Hezbollah was arrested here just before fighting broke out July 12.

Security sources say they suspect most Hezbollah agents operating here are Arab-Israeli. They say Hezbollah's most successful recruiting ground is Mecca, where Arab-Israelis travel for the pilgrimage there required by Islam. While Saudi Arabia does not admit Israelis, Arab-Israelis can travel to Jordan where they turn in their passports temporarily for a Jordanian passport voucher they can use to enter Saudi Arabia.

The sources said Israeli Hezbollah agents receive advanced training by Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, including in the use of intelligence gathering and secured communications.

"Hezbollah, with the help of Iran, works like the army of a sovereign country," said a security official. "This includes the recruitment and development of spy networks."

Hezbollah many times has boasted of infiltrating Israel.

Saturday, Hezbollah's al-Manar television network aired what appeared to be home video footage of a building in Haifa collapsing last week after a rocket strike. News coverage here only had captured the aftermath of the building collapse and not footage of the structure falling. Al-Manar claimed the video was recorded by a Hezbollah agent operating inside Israel and boasted the group has many agents in the Jewish state. Israel says it is investigating the claim.