al-Akhbar daily confirms Jarrah trained by Mossad, has direct link to Mogniehs assassination

18-11-2008
The Lebanese Army Intelligence has continued investigations into the background and activities of Ali and Youssef Jarrah, two Lebanese siblings who were arrested in the Bekaa on charges of spying for "Israel" earlier this month.

The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar Tuesday reported that Ali Jarrah, who is detained at the Lebanese Army Directorate of Intelligence, had succeeded in living a "double life" over a period of 11 years between his "luxurious home in his hometown of Marj and a modest rented home in Masnaa, behind the police station."

Jarrah secretly had a second wife, a Palestinian named Nehmat Awwayed, in Masnaa. The daily reported that military investigations revealed he had a third apartment in Baabda for "entertainment and fun with friends and girlfriends."

Jarrah had justified his travels to his relatives and wives as for trade or tourism purposes, but had in fact traveled to "Israel", where he worked for the Mossad, Al-Akhbar reported the military report as saying. Jarrah was given an "Israeli" passport and would stop in Tel Aviv for a day or two when his employer in the Mossad, who continued to contact him regularly by phone, requested Jarrah travel to Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus or Italy, the daily added.

Jarrah's travels to "Israel" to meet his employers provided him with training on the operation of listening devices, cameras and sophisticated communications equipment, according to the daily.
"Israeli" Intelligence assigned Jarrah to conduct a survey using the camera found installed in his car, the daily quoted unnamed sources as saying. Through the years, he managed to complete an almost comprehensive survey of the Bekaa, Beirut's southern suburbs and a number of Palestinian refugee camps.

Jarrah had the means to directly transmit images to "Israel", the sources, who declined to specify the means, told Al-Akhbar.

Jarrah was also tasked to work in Syria, Al-Akhbar reported, where he surveyed districts of the capital, Damascus, including the area where top Hizbullah operative martyr Imad Moghnieh was assassinated last February. He covered the cities of Tartous, Hama, Homs and Aleppo, according to the article.

Al-Akhbar also quoted the unnamed sources as saying they doubted there was a "direct link" between Jarrah's work in the Damascus district of Kafr Soussa and the Moghnieh assassination or the assassination of Syrian General Mohammad Suleiman in Tartous.

The daily also quoted sources from the Jarrahs' hometown in the Bekaa as saying the case aimed at tarnishing the image of Future bloc MP Jamal Jarrah, who had employed Ali and Youssef's brother as a bodyguard, and ultimately reduce the influence of the Future Movement in the Bekaa.
 
Others in the eastern town of Marj believed Jarrah had been the "dynamo" of the clashes in Saadnayel, Marj and Taalabaya in the clashes of May, 2008, and had distributed arms to proponents of the March 14 alliance, Al-Akhbar reported.