Israel hacks Lebanon phones during Nasrallah speech

Lebanon has held the Israeli regime responsible for a recent hacking into the country’s telecom network during a speech by Secretary General of Hezbollah resistance movement Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah.

During the Thursday speech to honor Hezbollah’s top military commander Mustafa Badreddine, calls and messages were sent to thousands of Lebanese people accusing Nasrallah of ordering Badreddine’s murder.

Following the incident, Hezbollah said, “An unknown source manipulated the landlines of Hezbollah’s press office, calling a number of citizens and sending text messages,” which “included insults against the resistance and its leader.”

In a joint statement, Lebanon’s Telecommunications Ministry and the state-run telecoms company Ogero said they believe that Israel is behind the suspicious phone calls, citing a similar Israeli hacking back in 2006.

The breach affected around 10,000 phones through a “high technology that penetrated the telephone network from outside Lebanon,” the statement added.

It further went on to say that a technical inspection had found that the calls were initiated from France, Italy, Iraq, Syria and several other countries.

Probes would continue and the Lebanese government would take necessary measures and technical procedures to prevent such breaches, the statement concluded.