Former UNIFIL Commander Alain Pelligrini tells Al-Manar Israeli used to infiltrate UNIFIL reports about Hezbollah, even if encrypted.

Former United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Commander Alain Pellegrini reiterated on Friday what he has already uncovered about the Israeli spying and ability to infiltrate the UNIFIL reports about Hezbollah.

He told Al-Manar that all the reports and information submitted by the UNIFIL forces to the United Nations used to reach the Israeli hands, adding that he doesn’t know the exact mechanism allowing this infiltration.

“The information goes to the Israelis either by tapping or at the time it reaches the United Nations in New York,” Pelligrini said. “Every time I send my semi-annual report to the UNIFIL, attached by details for the leadership of United Nations forces alone, and despite the fact that the report is encrypted, I immediately receive after each report to New York, a letter from the Israeli Army, containing suggestions for writing the report, hoping to amend it!!”

Answering a question about the American ability to end Hezbollah through the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Pelligrini told Al-Manar he has no information in this regard. “But if Americans want to get rid of Hezbollah, this can’t take place through the UNIFIL,” he said. “We must separate between UNIFIL and STL. These are completely different issues.”

In an interview with Lebanese daily As-Safir earlier this week, Pelligrini uncovered US attempt to penetrate the leadership of UNIFIL during July 2006 war on Lebanon, in order to convert the force into a bridgehead for the intervention of international forces from NATO or the EU, without waiting until the ceasefire.
Pellegrini said “in case of launching a joint operation, I was offered to join American officers. The US had deployed (off the coast of Lebanon) the twenty-fourth marine intervention Unit which is capable to intervene in my operational area and is ready to provide me with reinforcements in case of launching any operation.”
The U.S. offer “to assist UNIFIL”, during the July war, came after meetings in Rome, which considered the possibility of sending international forces, under the flags of the United Nations.