عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Lebanese Security Agencies Do Not Deny Cyber-Espionage Accusations

Lebanese President Michel Aoun chairs a Higher Defense Council meeting at the Baabda Palace on Friday. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese President Michel Aoun chairs a Higher Defense Council meeting at the Baabda Palace on Friday. (Dalati & Nohra)
TT
TT

Lebanese Security Agencies Do Not Deny Cyber-Espionage Accusations

Lebanese President Michel Aoun chairs a Higher Defense Council meeting at the Baabda Palace on Friday. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese President Michel Aoun chairs a Higher Defense Council meeting at the Baabda Palace on Friday. (Dalati & Nohra)

Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq did not deny on Friday claims that the country’s General Security had carried out cyber-espionage through hacking smartphone applications.

He announced after a Higher Defense Council meeting that the CIA report on the spy claims “was exaggerated, but that does not mean that it is not true.”

Mobile security firm Lookout, Inc. and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, accused Lebanon’s General Security of using fake versions of smartphone apps, such as “WhatsApp,” Telegram, Threema and Signal, to hack Android mobile devices, turning them into cyber-spying machines.

This marks one of the first known cases of large-scale hacking of phones rather than computers.

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim renewed on Friday his denial that his agency had such hacking capabilities, remarking: “We are strong, but to the extend that the report mentions.”

The two companies had accused the General Security of spying over 21 different countries, including the United States and several European nations.

No evidence was found that Apple phone users were targeted, something that may simply reflect the popularity of Android in the Middle East.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
TT
TT

Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.