Four Lebanese citizens accused of spying for Israel were sentenced to death on Thursday in Lebanese military courts. Two of the convicted were tried in absentia, after they apparently fled the country.
The four suspects are related. One is a staff sergeant in the Lebanese forces, the others are his wife, his sister and her husband. The sergeant and his wife are in Lebanese custody.
According to Lebanese media, the two suspects who escaped detention are now hiding in Israel.
Lebanese security forces have detained dozens of suspects in an alleged spy ring. Suspects are accused of conspiring with Israeli agents to identify Hizbullah targets that were bombed by Israel during the Second Lebanon war.
In October, United Nations forces suggested that Israel was behind two explosions in southern Lebanon. The explosions were caused by underground devices, they said.
Israel asserted that the explosions in southern Lebanon proved that Hizbullah had returned to the area in violation of UN Resolution 1701.