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.



Spain Cancels Contract for Anti-tank Missiles Built by Israeli Subsidiary

 Israeli soldiers fire a mortar towards Gaza from their position near the border, as seen from Israel, June 2, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli soldiers fire a mortar towards Gaza from their position near the border, as seen from Israel, June 2, 2025. (Reuters)
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Spain Cancels Contract for Anti-tank Missiles Built by Israeli Subsidiary

 Israeli soldiers fire a mortar towards Gaza from their position near the border, as seen from Israel, June 2, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli soldiers fire a mortar towards Gaza from their position near the border, as seen from Israel, June 2, 2025. (Reuters)

Spain has cancelled a deal for anti-tank missile systems that were to be manufactured in Madrid by a subsidiary of an Israeli company, in a bid to move away from Israeli military technology, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The decision will affect the license for 168 SPIKE LR2 anti-tank missile systems with an estimated value of 285 million euros ($325 million). The systems would have been developed in Spain by Pap Tecnos, a Madrid-based subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, according to local press.

“The goal is clear...a total disconnection from Israeli technology,” government spokesperson Pilar Alegría told reporters, adding the government is studying “the effects of the cancellation.”

Israel's Defense Ministry referred questions on the decision to Rafael, which told Associated Press it wasn't aware of the cancellation. Pap Tecnos, located on the outskirts of Madrid, did not comment.

Spain approved the deal on Oct. 3, 2023, four days before an assault led by Hamas on southern Israel that sparked a devastating war in Gaza. Authorities argued at the time that the systems used by the Spanish forces were obsolete and should be replaced for up-to-date versions like those used by allied armies.

Spain's leftist government says it stopped exporting arms to Israel as of Oct. 2, 2023, but there were reports some shipments slipped through.

United States late last year opened an investigation into whether NATO ally Spain denied port entry to at least three cargo vessels reportedly transporting US weapons to Israel.

Spain formally recognized a Palestinian state in May 2024 in a coordinated effort with Norway and Ireland. A month later, Spain became the first European country to ask the top United Nations court, the International Court of Justice, permission to join a case mounted by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza. Israel strongly denies the charge.