Lebanon arrests 2 for allegedly passing info that Israel used to hit Hamas deputy chief

BEIRUT— Judicial officials in Lebanon say an investigative judge has issued arrest warrants for two people on suspicion of giving information to Israel, including the digital mapping of a Beirut street where the Palestinian Hamas terror group’s deputy leader was killed in January.

The officials say that Fadi Sawwan, the investigative judge at the military tribunal, issued the arrest warrants earlier this week for the two Lebanese citizens weeks after they were detained while using sophisticated digital mapping equipment.

The Israeli military doesn’t immediately return requests for comment.

The officials, who speak on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, say the two men had earlier mapped streets in different parts of Lebanon, including in Beirut’s southern suburbs that are home to the leadership of the Hezbollah terror group. They say the men said they thought they were sending the information to a US-based company that does virtual tourism business.

The two officials say among the streets that they mapped was the one where Saleh al-Arouri was killed, along with six other terror operatives in a January strike that hit an apartment. They say the street was mapped nearly two weeks before Arouri was killed.

The officials say the two are in custody and are charged with spying for a foreign country and obtaining information that should remain secret because of national security. The officials say the two could get a sentence of up to life in prison.