Nasrallah places his Hizballah on war preparedness

During a videotaped speech haranguing Israel for staging threatening military maneuvers, Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah Monday night, May 18, ordered the call-up of reserves and placed his terrorist militia on a state of war preparedness.
Earlier, our military sources reported that Hizballah was exploiting the alleged flight of suspected Israeli spies from Lebanon across the border into Israel to drum up border tension.
In Lebanon’s over-heated pre-election climate, government security forces reported that Elie al-Hayek, 49, a mathematics professor from Qleia, who walks on crutches, fled to Israel on Monday, May 18, with his wife and three children. Hayek and family are said to have crossed the border at a point between the villages of Yarun and Romish in Lebanon and the Israeli kibbutz Baram.
Hizballah’s Al Manar TV claimed that two more suspected spies escaped Monday and several last week. Beirut has lodged a complaint with UNIFIL headquarters at Naqoura and demanded the escapees’ extradition.
debkafile‘s Middle East sources report that the Lebanese media are in the grip of spy mania, which is exploited by the different parties running for parliament on June 7 to boost their chances.
So far, 13 Lebanese nationals have been detained on suspicion of spying for Israel.
Jerusalem has refrained from commenting on the charges to avoid being caught up in Lebanon’s highly-charged election campaign. The Iranian terrorist Hizballah and pro-Syrian parties are fighting tooth and nail to dislodge the pro-Western majority government which is hanging on for dear life. As a campaign stunt, Hizballah is capable of using the spy episode, whether true or fictional, and the escape of suspects to inflame border tension, and lift its image as the true custodian for the south after government and UNIFIL forces proved incapable of guarding the Lebanese-Israeli border.
In a speech Friday, May 15, Hizballah secretary Hassan Nasrallah said only his organization is fit to defend Lebanon against Israel. The UN peacemakers are useless, he said, and should be kicked out.
Hizballah badly needs a facelift in the Arab world as Egypt prepares to stage a show trial against its agents who were caught in acts of espionage, subversion and terror. The Shiite organization has been bargaining secretly with the Cairo government to get the trial stopped, to no avail.