Spanish diplomat detained: Security incident in Beirut's southern suburb

The security war between the resistance in Lebanon and the Israeli enemy continues on an escalating path. 

This article is originally published in, translated from Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.

Following the outbreak of war after the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation and the entry of a southern front supporting Gaza against the genocide and displacement war, Western security activity in Lebanon has increased in conjunction with a rise in diplomatic pressure from Western allies of the enemy. 

However, security operations remain a central tool in the occupation army's work, and current confrontations on the southern front show the central role of human and technical intelligence, especially on the part of the occupation forces, which pursue resistance leaders and members to assassinate them. 

However, what has recently emerged is that the Lebanese arena has become more accessible by many Arab, Western, and international intelligence agencies that support the Israeli enemy. 

These agencies, through agents holding the same nationalities as the countries themselves, alongside collaborators from Lebanese and non-Lebanese residents in Lebanon, seek to gather data to assist Israel in identifying its targets.

After it was revealed that a security-military group affiliated with the Dutch army was detained in the area of Bir al-Abd, it was learned that another incident occurred days ago, where the resistance security apparatus arrested a foreigner in the Kafaat area in the southern suburb of Beirut.

He was arrested while filming with his phone on one of the streets. He was later handed over to one of the official security agencies.

Security sources told "Al-Akhbar" that "the man is of Spanish nationality and claimed during interrogation that he got lost and entered the area by mistake.

"Thus, he had to use his mobile phone to take several shots of the street he was in, intending to send them to his friends at the Spanish embassy in Beirut to send a car to pick him up from the place," the source said. 

However, scrutiny of the man's belongings revealed that "the phone contains an advanced program that prevents access to data."

As usual, immediately after the news spread on a narrow scale, communications and interventions at the highest level began to release him, especially from the embassy in Beirut.

The embassy obtained a judicial, security, and political decision to release him. The detainee was handed over on the same day, only to discover later that "the man had a diplomatic passport."

This incident occurred days before the altercation that took place on Thursday between citizens and UNIFIL elements who entered their vehicle into the southern suburb, specifically into the area of Hay el-Sellom. 

This incident recurs occasionally due to errors or deliberate steps taken by some units of the international emergency forces operating in the south.

It was reported that a vehicle belonging to UNIFIL, containing several soldiers from the Malaysian force, entered the suburb from the airport road while heading from the south to Beirut, prompting the residents of the area to block its path, detain it, seize devices and cameras in its possession.

Then, the residents handed over the soldiers to the resistance security apparatus, which verified their identities and handed them over to the Directorate, which later released them.

In the aftermath of the incident, Kandice Ardiel, UNIFIL's Deputy Spokesperson, announced that "a vehicle belonging to the peacekeeping mission was on a routine logistic trip to Beirut last night, which ended up on an unplanned route." 

She emphasized that "in addition to the freedom of movement within the UNIFIL operational area, peacekeepers enjoy freedom and authorization from the Lebanese government to travel throughout Lebanon for administrative and logistical reasons. This freedom of movement is necessary to implement Resolution 1701."

As the incident is not the first of its kind, and the altercation between the international emergency forces and the locals is not the first of its kind either, the sensitivity of this incident is related to the fact that the "mistake" occurred in an area susceptible to the resistance, especially during the war with the enemy.