Hezbollah, Al-Manar dealt the US’ most prominent intelligence service a severe blow, US officials confirm

Last week, Al-Manar broadcast several reports detailing how the CIA operates in Lebanon, plus the names of some intelligence officers working at the US embassy in Awkar as ‘diplomats.’  A few days earlier, the Islamic Republic of Iran had uncovered a CIA network comprising 30 agents; two serious blows to the US’ most prominent intelligence service.

American officials have confirmed that there have been setbacks in both countries, though they have not been willing to discuss the details, the New York Times said Tuesday. When an undercover intelligence officer is publicly identified, it can be difficult or impossible for the officer to work again in a covert role overseas, for fear of compromising any informants the officer might recruit, the American daily added.

“The CIA officers were active in recruiting agents from various segments of the Lebanese society: government employees, security and military personnel, religious, banking and academic figures,” Al-Manar’s report said.

The exposure creates new security risks for CIA officers in a country where American espionage operations had already been damaged by Hezbollah’s capture of a group of agency-paid informants, the Washington Post said.

The US administration regards Hezbollah and Al-Manar as terrorist organizations for supporting the Palestinian cause and condemning the Israeli occupation of Arab lands. Hezbollah’s armed wing, The Islamic Resistance, battled Israeli occupation forces in Lebanon since 1982 and succeeded in 2000 in kicking out the occupation army. In 2006, Israel waged war on Lebanon for 33 days, after which Tel Aviv admitted defeat at Hezbollah’s hands. Al-Manar, banned in several European countries besides the US, had played a significant role in achieving this victory.

According to US officials, Al-Manar is not “credible”, being a terrorist organization. However, CIA spokeswoman, Jennifer Youngblood, declined to confirm or deny whether the names broadcast by Al-Manar were in fact those of CIA agents. “The agency does not, as a rule, address spurious claims from terrorist groups,” she said. “I think it’s worth remembering that Hezbollah is a dangerous organization, with Al Manar as its propaganda arm. That fact alone should cast some doubt on the credibility of the group’s claims.”

In retrospect, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction; his administration’s justification to attack and occupy oil-rich Iraq. His claims were contested and his evidence was false and fabricated, mainly by the CIA. If credibility was related to being terrorist or not, perhaps Ms. Youngblood should review her administration’s numerous false statements made post 9/11.

Bir el-Abed's CIA bombing

Hezbollah and the CIA have been at loggerheads since the 1980s, when the US intelligence agency blew up the Bir El-Abed neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburb to assassinate late Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah (died in 2010) and killed hundreds of civilians including many children.

Youngblood’s statement does not change the fact that the CIA in Lebanon has received a hard slap on the face. The New York Times, quoted an American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying that “repeating Hezbollah’s claims does nothing but serve that group’s interests” but did not deny that the CIA had suffered losses in Lebanon.

Former CIA officials told the Washington Post that at least one of the names mentioned — that of the station chief in Beirut — appeared to be accurate. The move by Hezbollah was designed to intimidate would-be spies, they told the Post.

Disclosing the names of the CIA agents could be the agency’s least problems. Names, nicknames, rendezvous places, pay checks, and other information mentioned in the report means that Hezbollah probably has more sensitive information about the CIA personnel operating in Lebanon.

In September, Al-Manar’s Website posted a two-part report titled “Is Lebanon Going to Be Theater for New US Tragedy?” on the failures of the CIA in Lebanon and the region and how clear was the secret war between the agency and Hezbollah.