Soldier suspected of spying for Syria

A Druze soldier from northern Israel is indicted on charges of passing on sensitive military information to Syria.

Corporal Halal Halabi of Daliyat al-Karmel is accused of telling Sidqi al-Maqt, 48 — who spent 27 years in an Israeli prison on terrorism charges and who was indicted last week for spying –about army exercises on the Syrian border, Channel 2 reports. Maqt reportedly then handed over that information to the Syrian government.

The soldier is indicted for “conveying secret information and aiding the enemy.” According to the report, Maqt approached the army base where the soldier was stationed on February 15, and told him that he wanted to write an article about the IDF activity in the area. During that encounter, a man who arrived with Maqt filmed the area. The next day, the two spoke by phone, and Halabi told him more about the army training and invited him to watch the exercises.

The head of the Daliyat al-Karmel municipality tells Channel 2 that the soldier was duped, and likely didn’t understand the implications of his actions.