US Military Translator Confesses to Spying for Lebanese National Connected to Hezbollah

A vehicle hit by a missile burns outside the Baghdad International Airport, where US strikes killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Quds Force. (AP)
A vehicle hit by a missile burns outside the Baghdad International Airport, where US strikes killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Quds Force. (AP)
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US Military Translator Confesses to Spying for Lebanese National Connected to Hezbollah

A vehicle hit by a missile burns outside the Baghdad International Airport, where US strikes killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Quds Force. (AP)
A vehicle hit by a missile burns outside the Baghdad International Airport, where US strikes killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Quds Force. (AP)

A former US military translator pleaded guilty Friday of divulging classified information to a Lebanese national with suspected ties to the Lebanese Hezbollah, reported Voice of America.

Mariam Taha Thompson, 63, who worked as a contract linguist for the US military from 2006 to 2020, pleaded guilty to one count of delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government.

She faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Her sentencing is scheduled for June 23.

Thompson, who was born in Lebanon and became a US citizen in 1993, was arrested in February 2020 at a US special operations base in Erbil, Iraq.

Prosecutors say she used her top-secret clearance to pass the names of US intelligence assets to the Lebanese national in whom she had a romantic interest and whom she believed would share the information with Hezbollah, reported VOA.

Hezbollah was designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

According to court documents, the unnamed Lebanese national, described as “wealthy and well-connected,” claimed to have received a ring from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and had a nephew who worked in the Lebanese Ministry of Interior.

After a US air strike killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in December 2019, the Lebanese national, her unindicted co-conspirator, asked Thompson to provide Hezbollah with information about the human assets who had helped the US target Soleimani, according to prosecutors.

Over a six-week period leading up her arrest in February 2020, Thompson provided the Lebanese national with the identities of at least 10 clandestine human assets; at least 20 US targets; and multiple tactics, techniques and procedures, according to the Justice Department.

“Thompson jeopardized the lives of members of the US military as well as other individuals supporting the United States in a combat zone when she passed classified information to a person she knew was connected to Lebanese Hezbollah, a foreign terrorist organization which intended to use the information to hurt this country,” Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said in a statement.



US Working to Evacuate Citizens from Israel, Ambassador Says

A drone photo shows the damage over residential homes at the impact site following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
A drone photo shows the damage over residential homes at the impact site following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Working to Evacuate Citizens from Israel, Ambassador Says

A drone photo shows the damage over residential homes at the impact site following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
A drone photo shows the damage over residential homes at the impact site following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 16, 2025. (Reuters)

The United States is working to evacuate US citizens wishing to leave Israel by arranging flights and cruise ship departures, US ambassador Mike Huckabee said in a post on X on Wednesday, as fears mount of further military escalation between Iran and Israel. 

The US embassy in Jerusalem was working on the evacuation arrangements, Huckabee said, urging Americans in the country to sign up for updates through the State Department's Smart Traveler program. 

"Urgent notice! American citizens wanting to leave Israel- US Embassy in Israel @usembassyjlm is working on evacuation flights & cruise ship departures. You must enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP)," Huckabee wrote. 

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was unclear how many Americans were seeking to depart Israel or whether the US military would assist with the evacuation flights.  

US President Donald Trump has veered from proposing a swift diplomatic end to the five-day-old war between Iran and Israel to suggesting the United States might join it. 

Since Friday, Iran has fired around 400 missiles at Israel, of which 40 have pierced air defenses, killing 24 people, all of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.