Lebanon rounding up Mossad agents in Lebanon

A barrage of rockets at the weekend and the recent arrests of alleged spies have exposed a deadly covert war waged between the Jewish state and Hezbollah, Lebanon's militant Shia organisation.

Two rockets launched from southern Lebanon on Saturday ruptured an uneasy calm that had reigned along the border since the month-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. Only one missile reached Israel, wounding a woman. Israel responded by firing artillery shells.

Even before the flare-up, Hezbollah and Israel had been busy making plans for what many believe will be an inevitable fresh confrontation. Israel's efforts focus on penetrating Hezbollah's notoriously tight security to learn of the group's battle plans and assassinate its senior leadership. Imad Mughniyah, Hezbollah's veteran military commander, was killed in February last year when his car exploded in Damascus, a murder widely believed to have been the work of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.

Lebanese newspapers reported last week that an employee of Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's flag carrier, who went missing nine days ago, allegedly had links to Israel. Yussef Sader was thought to have been kidnapped on his way to work at Beirut airport. More