WarSclerotic

Lebanese media outlets reported on Monday that the Israel Defense Forces had detonated multiple spying devices in southern Lebanon. According to the report, the intelligence gathering devices were installed on terrorist organization Hezbollah’s telecommunications line near the village Zrariyeh, two miles north of the Litani River and beyond the jurisdiction of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The devices were reportedly used to tap the lines of senior officials in the organization. Lebanese newspaper Daily Star reported a Hezbollah statement on the incident, saying that “as part of its continuing counter-espionage efforts against Israel, the Islamic Resistance managed to locate an Israeli eavesdropping device on the resistance’s wired communication network in Zrarieh. As a result, the enemy detonated the device from a distance.”

An IDF spokesperson said that the IDF does not comment on foreign reports.

A similar incident occurred in December, when a large explosion which injured two was recorded near Srifa in southern Lebanon. Following the blast, Hezbollah operatives cordoned off the area, blocking the entry of Lebanese government and UNIFIL forces. Hezbollah later issued a statement that they had uncovered an Israeli surveillance device and after its discovery an Israeli air force drone entered Lebanese airspace and bombed it.