Israel jails Swedish national for 'spying for Hezbollah'

JERUSALEM

A Swedish national of Palestinian descent has been sentenced by an Israeli court to 18 months in prison for allegedly spying for Hezbollah.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday that 55-year-old Hassan Hizran had been found guilty of passing intelligence to Hezbollah after being recruited by the Lebanese armed group in 2009.

Hizran, who was raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, was reportedly given a light sentence on a plea bargain, because, according to the court, his Hezbollah handlers had instructed him to cooperate.

The court also ruled that the threat he posed to national security had been minimal because he did not provide Hezbollah with all the information it wanted.

Hezbollah emerged as a Shia militia in the 1980s after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon during that country’s 15-year-long civil war.

It later fought a protracted guerilla war against Israel-backed forces in southern Lebanon, which eventually led to a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.

In 2006, a massive Israeli offensive against Hezbollah -- which included an intense campaign of airstrikes -- caused widespread damage in much of the country, including in capital Beirut, while leaving some 1,300 Lebanese dead.