According to the report, Lebanon's military judicial system is currently investigating 21 detainees, including former Hezbollah officials, residents from southern Lebanon and Shiite neighborhoods of Beirut, and most notably, Mohammed Saleh—the son of a senior official in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force—who is considered the prime suspect in the affair.

Security and legal sources in Lebanon told Asharq Al-Awsat that Saleh, who comes from a highly respected Hezbollah family and whose brother was killed fighting Israel, exploited his access to commanders and their families to pass sensitive intelligence to Israel—including names, locations, and photos of high-ranking Hezbollah officials.

The report claims that the Mossad used this information to assassinate dozens of operatives and commanders, including Hassan Badir, Hezbollah’s Palestinian file chief, and his son Ali, both killed in a drone strike in late March.

The paper cited a Lebanese legal source who said: "The recent arrests indicate a significant shift in Israeli tactics—from recruiting agents online to targeted personal recruitment." Some of the arrested individuals were recruited after the outbreak of fighting on the northern border in October 2023, when Hezbollah launched a "support front" for Gaza.

The report noted that the exposure has shocked the Shiite public in Lebanon, especially among Hezbollah supporters. In Beirut’s southern Dahiya district, a noose was hung in a public square, demanding the execution of the suspects.

Lebanese journalist and Hezbollah critic Ali Al-Amin told the paper that the phenomenon points to a moral and ideological collapse: "Hezbollah's environment has become fertile ground for agent recruitment. This is no longer a fringe phenomenon—it’s a direct result of a political culture that brands every dissenter a traitor."

Saleh is accused of serious offenses, including espionage, collaboration with the enemy, and transferring intelligence that led to civilian deaths. Military prosecutor Fadi Akki has requested his immediate arrest and is reportedly seeking the death penalty under Lebanese law.

So far, 21 people have been arrested—13 Lebanese, six Syrians, and two Palestinians. All are being interrogated by Lebanon’s military court. According to Asharq Al-Awsat, recruitment occurred even before the war but intensified afterward.

A source quoted in the paper said Lebanese security officials believe the case is far from over. “The current arrests are just the beginning of a rolling snowball […] some of the detainees operated within the most sensitive circles of command, and there may be more yet to be exposed.”

From the perspective of the Lebanese state, any foreign actor conducting espionage on Lebanese soil—even if targeting only Hezbollah or Palestinian terrorist groups operating in Lebanon—is considered in violation of Lebanese law and dealt with accordingly. 

For the Lebanese government, any act of espionage on behalf of a foreign country is seen as endangering Lebanese citizens and harming national security, and therefore is being addressed by both the country’s security and judicial systems.