Hezbollah captured an armed group from Holland on the outskirts of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The group’s arrest comes amid reports that foreign intelligence agencies are gathering intelligence to assassinate leaders and commanders of Lebanon’s Islamic resistance movement, Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Sunday (March 3) that Hezbollah had detained members of the Dutch group last Wednesday. Military-grade weapons, ammunition, and equipment were seized from the six-member group.
Al-Akhbar, quoting related sources, reported that the members of the group admitted during initial interrogation that they were members of the Dutch armed forces. They claimed to have come to Beirut under the pretext of assisting in the evacuation of Dutch nationals from Lebanon.
But Lebanese journalists said the armed group did not cooperate with the Dutch embassy in Beirut in evacuating Dutch citizens from Lebanon. Members of the Dutch group started their operations in Kaslik, a coastal town north of Beirut, rather than going to their embassy. Immediately after the arrest, the Dutch ambassador in Beirut rushed to the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to release them.
The news comes at a time when Israeli forces are carrying out daily airstrikes inside Lebanon in an effort to destroy Hezbollah. Lebanese media have reported that Israel is gathering information from diplomats and citizens of Western countries stationed in Lebanon to identify the location of Hezbollah’s top leaders and commanders.
A top commander of Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on January 8. Earlier in December, the top leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Aruri, was killed in an Israeli drone attack on the outskirts of Beirut.
