April 01, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

HAIFA: A career soldier in the Israeli army has been charged with high treason for allegedly spying for Lebanon’s pro-Iran Hezbollah militia, a military official said on Monday.

Sergeant Luai Balut was indicted by a military court in Haifa, in northern Israel.

He is accused of “assisting the enemy at a time of war,” high treason and contacts with foreign agents in Lebanon.

Under Israeli law the penalty for high treason is death or life in prison. Balut is alleged to have been “in telephone contact with three Lebanese citizens working for Hezbollah” between December 2007 and February 2008, and giving them information about Israel troop positions along the border.

He is also suspected of involvement in drug smuggling across the Lebanese-Israeli frontier, the official said.—AFP