The Lebanese daily Al Akhbar said a Lebanese national with the rank of colonel was arrested several days ago, but the army barred local media from reporting of his arrest ahead of celebrations for Lebanon’s National Army Day.
 

On Monday a senior manager from the Lebanese telecommunications company Ogero, was also arrested on similar charges, the report said.
 

Hezbollah’s Al Manar satellite station reported that other workers from the company would be arrested on similar charges.
 

The arrests are in addition to those of employees from the Alfa telecommunications company who were detained on similar charges, the paper said.
 

Another former senior army officer employed by Alfa is believed to have fled to Germany, while four technicians from the company have also apparently fled the country, Arab media reports said.
 

In recent months Lebanon has arrested 70 nationals in connection with alleged Israeli espionage plots, The Daily Star said Tuesday. The wave of arrests has sparked fears that the country's communications infrastructure has been penetrated by Israeli intelligence.
 

Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman who under Lebanese law must sign a death sentence before it is carried out, has called for severe punishment for spies. The Cabinet has agreed that death sentences handed down to spies for Israel should be implemented, the newspaper said.