Lebanese sources on Sunday were quoted as saying that a fourth suspected Israeli agent in the cellphone company Alfa fled to Israel before he was arrested by Lebanese security authorities. Al-Nahar newspaper quoted the Lebanese sources as saying: "The new Alfa suspect had fled to the Israeli territory two days before his arrest via the gate of Aitaroun ."
Lebanon's security forces announced last week the arrest of a new staff member in the Alfa for mobile phone. Tariq Rabaa, a communications engineer in the company was detained less than two weeks after the arrest of his colleague Charbel Qazzi. Lebanon's security services announced the arrest of a third employee in the same company on Friday.
The arrests come as part of an extensive investigation into acts of espionage which led to the arrest of more than 50 people since April 2009.
Lebanon said the arrests constituted a major blow to Israeli intelligence-gathering as many of the suspects helped to locate Hizbullah targets during the 2006 war.
