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)
TT
20

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 Condemns ‘Dangerous’ Maneuvers by Chinese Navy in South China Sea 

An aircraft identified by the Philippine Coast Guard as Chinese Navy helicopter (L) flies near the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane during an aerial reconnaissance flight at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
An aircraft identified by the Philippine Coast Guard as Chinese Navy helicopter (L) flies near the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane during an aerial reconnaissance flight at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

US Condemns ‘Dangerous’ Maneuvers by Chinese Navy in South China Sea 

An aircraft identified by the Philippine Coast Guard as Chinese Navy helicopter (L) flies near the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane during an aerial reconnaissance flight at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
An aircraft identified by the Philippine Coast Guard as Chinese Navy helicopter (L) flies near the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane during an aerial reconnaissance flight at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The United States condemned the "dangerous" maneuvers of a Chinese navy helicopter that endangered the safety of a Philippine government aircraft patrolling a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, its ambassador to Manila said on Wednesday.

In a post on X, Ambassador MaryKay Carlson also called on China "to refrain from coercive actions and settle its disputes peacefully in accordance with international law."

The Philippines said late on Tuesday it was "deeply disturbed" by the Chinese navy's "unprofessional and reckless" flight actions and that it will make a diplomatic protest.

Manila's coast guard said the Chinese navy helicopter performed dangerous flight maneuvers when it flew close to a government aircraft conducting surveillance over the Scarborough Shoal, endangering the lives of its pilots and passengers, actions.

China disputed the Philippines' account, saying on Tuesday its aircraft "illegally intruded" into China's airspace and accused its Southeast Asian neighbor of "spreading false narratives".

Named after a British ship that was grounded on the atoll nearly three centuries ago, the Scarborough Shoal is one of the most contested maritime feature in the South China Sea, where Beijing and Manila have clashed repeatedly.

"The Philippines has undeniable sovereignty and jurisdiction over Bajo de Masinloc," its maritime council said in a statement using Manila's name for the shoal.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, a vital waterway for more than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, putting it at odds with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

A 2016 arbitration ruling invalidated China's expansive claim, but Beijing does not recognize the decision.