Dozens of Lebanese army officers leak intelligence to Hezbollah, warn terrorists of IDF raids – report

Dozens of officers of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) leaked intelligence to Hezbollah, enabling the terror group to evade Israeli raids and keep weapon stores from being discovered, according to a report by The Times.

According to the terms of the ceasefire in Lebanon, the LAF is supposed to deploy across southern Lebanon, take effective control of the area previously controlled by Hezbollah, and destroy its remaining infrastructure.

Citing an international intelligence report seen by newspaper staff, the report says that dozens of officers, including Suhil Bahij Gharb, head of the LAF’s military intelligence for southern Lebanon, have leaked sensitive information to Hezbollah.

Gharb, who like most Hezbollah members, is a Shia Muslim from southern Lebanon. He reportedly leaked information from inside a control room of the ceasefire enforcement mechanism, which includes representatives of the U.S., France, the UN and other international parties.

The mechanism is supposed to enforce the withdrawal of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon by transmitting reports of terror infrastructure, mostly weapon depots, to the LAF, which is supposed to destroy them.

Over the past two months, the IDF has complained that only some of the Hezbollah targets it has submitted to the mechanism have been destroyed.

The report offers an explanation of how Israel's reports could have reached Hezbollah, allowing it to move weapons to other locations and evade raids by the LAF or IDF. Despite the ceasefire, the Israeli military has struck numerous Hezbollah squads which it said were moving weapons.

“Hezbollah use internal, sensitive information regarding the Lebanese army to hide its actions from the international entities in charge of regional security,” the newspaper quoted from the intelligence report.

Despite the U.S. and France having lauded the LAF’s efforts, the report says the leaks raise doubts whether the LAF can fulfill its side of the agreement and take control of the southern part of the country while pushing out Hezbollah, which has a bigger, better equipped and more experienced fighting force.

The Times cited regional security sources who acknowledged that while the Lebanese military had confiscated some weapon depots, the leaks had allowed Hezbollah to keep weapons and fighters close to the Israeli border.

The LAF and UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, declined to comment on the report of The Times.

The original deadline for the withdrawal of IDF troops from Lebanon expired on Sunday, Jan. 26. However, over the past weeks Israeli officials repeatedly complained about the LAF’s slow pace of deployment, while Israeli soldiers keep finding more of Hezbollah’s weapons.

On Sunday evening, the White House announced that “The arrangement between Lebanon and Israel, monitored by the United States, will continue to be in effect until February 18, 2025.”

On Sunday, at least 22 people were killed and over 100 wounded by the IDF across southern Lebanon as troops opened fire on crowds of Lebanese, many of them carrying Hezbollah flags, who tried to rush back to their towns.