Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that the Iranian proxy militia has discovered three spies within its ranks, Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported Friday. At least two of the three were working for the CIA, which recruited them on behalf of Israel, he claimed.
"When Israel failed to infiltrate Hizbullah, it asked the help of the CIA," Nasrallah said, according to NNA.
The U.S. embassy in Beirut dismissed the report as "empty accusations."
Nasrallah referred to the suspects with what he said were their initials. "The first name is A.B. This person was recruited five months ago by a CIA officer," Nasrallah said. The alleged spy has confessed his relation to the CIA, according to Nasrallah.
The second accused spy, "H.M.," was recruited by the CIA before "A.B.," Nasrallah said. Hizbullah has confirmed that the third suspect, "M.A.," collaborated with a foreign body and “we are still investigating which one," Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah claimed that the spies could not have caused much damage to his group because none of them held a high rank.
A U.S. embassy spokesperson in Beirut said in response: "These are the same kinds of empty accusations that we have heard repeatedly from Hizbullah. There is no substance to his accusations. It appears as if Nasrallah was addressing internal problems within Hizbullah with which we have nothing to do. Our position towards Hizbullah is well known and has not changed."
A former CIA officer, Clare M. Lopez has said that U.S. policy in Lebanon under President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush ignores Iran's influence. "The [United States'] ability to distinguish between friend and foe in the Middle East seems lost and will have disastrous consequences for our own national security objectives in the region and ultimately, at home," Lopez said.