Under pressure from US, Lebanon deports arrested Israeli spy

Under pressure from the United States, Lebanese authorities have released an Israeli spy who was working under the guise of a reporter.

Lebanese security authorities on Thursday released and deported 42-year-old Joshua Tartakovsky, who had been arrested in the southern suburb of the capital Beirut earlier this week.

Citing local reports, The Cradle, a journalist-driven news website covering West Asia, said that US-born Tartakovsky, who also holds British and Israeli passports, arrived in Beirut in recent weeks and had identified himself there as a reporter.

The former ultra-Orthodox from al-Quds was arrested by security services of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut, on Tuesday, after his behavior “aroused suspicion.”

Under both Lebanese and Israeli law, it is illegal for Israelis to enter Lebanon. Tartakovsky allegedly entered the Arab country with a group of foreign journalists and aid workers using only his UK passport, but he was identified as an Israeli when his Israeli passport was found in his possession.

The Cradle reported that the US embassy in Lebanon exerted pressure on the Lebanese authorities to release the Israeli spy on Thursday before his deportation from the country.