UK intel officer/CNN staffer suspected for spying on Hezbollah in Leb.
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The Al-Akhbar news reports citing sources that the Lebanese army suspended the suspected British spy's permits to enter Lebanon's south after suspicions he gathering information on Lebanese and Palestinian Resistance.
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Lebanese soldiers deploy near Qalili village, Lebanon, Thursday, April 6, 2023 (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
The Lebanese Army suspended entry permits to southern Lebanon for a former British intelligence officer and current CNN staffer, under suspicion of attempting to enter the area to gather information on Hezbollah and the military activities of Hamas, Al Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday citing sources.
The United Kingdom is among several Western countries and other US allies who have previously designated the Lebanese Resistance Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization." Palestinian Resistance group Hamas has been also added to the list of "terror groups." However, these labels do not extend beyond the countries' legal jurisdiction.
This comes amid increasing reports in Lebanon shed light on the activities of British Military Intelligence, commonly known as Defense Intelligence (DI), who have been long-engaged in espionage activities targeting both Lebanese and Palestinian Resistance movements.
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Identified as "Wayne G.," the report said that he had previously served within the British military team responsible for training four regiments of the Lebanese army. Additionally, Wayne married a Lebanese woman recently, before relocating to Ukraine as part of a team affiliated with the American broadcasting network CNN, where he closely collaborated with Ukrainian forces.
However, following the October 7 operation by the Palestinians in Gaza, and the border escalation between the Lebanese Resistance group Hezbollah and the Israeli occupation military, the British nationale returned to Lebanon to join the Beirut-based CNN team, Al Akhbar added according to sources.
"Wayne G." had also sought licensing through a working group associated with the BBC in Beirut, its report said.
The suspicions surrounding "Wayne G."'s activities have raised concerns about potential espionage efforts directed at Lebanese and Palestinian Resistance organizations, which are currently engaged in operations against the Israeli army in northern occupied Palestine, in response to its genocide in Gaza and with aims to exert pressure on the occupation entity to put an end to its brutal war.
In a related context, military sources in Lebanon have told Al Akhbar that the Defense Intelligence (DI) is making efforts to leverage the infrastructure established along the Lebanese-Syrian border in the past years, including towers and surveillance equipment, to gather information regarding weapons being transferred to the Resistance in Lebanon coming from Syria.
These revelations have prompted heightened scrutiny of foreign intelligence activities within Lebanon's borders, as the government seeks to safeguard national security interests and sovereignty.
Britain openly declares meddling in Lebanese affairs
In November, the Daily Mail reported that hundreds of elite UK forces have been conducting training in Lebanon, in preparation for potential "rescue missions" to retrieve British citizens held by the Resistance in Gaza.
This came despite the UK claims that it would not be sending boots on the ground in the Strip, rather would only assist the occupation regime by providing intelligence, logistical support, and military aid.
Britain's Chief of General Staff, Patrick Sanders, told the House of Commons defense committee then that the UK is "exploiting the network we have, so, for example, we have our special operations forces, the Rangers, in Lebanon," adding that "They have built up a very close relationship with Lebanese armed forces."
According to Sanders, these relations could provide "insight and influence on Lebanese decision-making and seeing things from the other side of the northern border, which concerns Israel."
The General also said then that the UK forces currently in Lebanon aim to deter Iran from joining the war.
Assisting "Israel" in its genocide in Gaza
Elsewhere in the UK's involvement in the Israeli war on Gaza, the British military has been using a number of military bases in Cyprus to conduct extensive military and intelligence activities on the island, as part of the European country's efforts to assist the occupation entity in its aggression on Gaza.
Britain maintains two "Sovereign Base Areas" on the island, Dhekelia in the east and Akrotiri in the west, which are enormous, highly covert military and intelligence complexes covering 3% of Cyprus' geography and historically used for bombing missions in the Middle East.
Commenting on the British using the bases to support "Israel," Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said he had not been informed of the operations, asserting that his country "cannot be used as a base for war operations."
