First wave of arrests inside Hizballah of suspected informers to Israeli intelligenceNo commissions of inquiry for Hassan Nasrallah. Our exclusive sources learn that HizballahÂ’ special security service has begun rounding up suspects in the northern Beqaa Valley, Baalbek and South Lebanon of members and others suspected of tipping off Israel intelligence on the location of the storehouse holding the heavy Zelzal missiles. Those missiles, no more than three or four, were held in reserve as HizballahÂ’s most devastating strategic weapon against Israel, capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
Monday, Aug. 28, prime minister Ehud Olmert revealed for the first time that the Israeli air force destroyed those missiles in the first 34 minutes of the Lebanon war on July 12. Nasrallah needs urgently to find the leak through which the missilesÂ’ place of storage and very existence, one of HizballahÂ’s most tightly kept secrets known only to very few top leaders of the organization, reached Israel.
The first arrests were made among people living in the vicinity of the missile cache. More arrests have been carried out in the Shiite communities who live near or are connected with the Hizballah intelligence and secret command centers in Baalbek, which were targeted by Israeli air strikes and commando forays.
DEBKAfileÂ’s intelligence sources reveal that HizballahÂ’s special security apparatus is focusing on two lines of inquiry:
1. IsraelÂ’s Aug. 1 commando raid on the Deir al Hikhma hospital in Baalbek.
2. The series of Israeli incursions in the course of the war in the hills northwest of Baalbek, where Hizballah’s main command center, including its intelligence headquarters, are hidden underground in well fortified quarters – and are still in place.