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Monday, July 30, 2012

Israel indicts Golan Heights man for passing intelligence on IDF to Syria


A Druze man from the southern Golan Heights village of Majdal Shams was indicted on Monday for allegedly passing information about the Israel Defense Forces to Syrian intelligence.

The suspect, 38-year-old Iyad Juhari, was arrested last month following an investigation carried out by the Israel Police and Shin Bet Security services, a gag order lifted Monday revealed..

A Nazareth Court served its indicted on Monday, charging Juhari over allegedly holding contacts with a foreign agent and passing intelligence to an enemy.

Juhari began studying medicine in Syria in 2002, when he lived for a decade. When he returned to Israel through the Quneitra Crossing on June 28, he was detained and transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning.

According to the Shin Bet, he admitted that between 2005 and 2008 he was in contact with a number of Syrian intelligence officials, who directed him to gather intelligence on related to IDF operations during his holidays in Israel.

On his return to Syria after each holiday, he met with his Syrian officials and passed them the intelligence that he had gathered. This included information on IDF bases in northern Israel, their names, locations, size and which bases had tanks. He also passed information on IDF training in the area and IDF movements near the Syrian border, and the border fence near Majdal Shams and IDF operations near it.

Information on the nature of the security check at the Quneitra checkpoint, and additionally information on Golan Heights residents of who oppose the Syrian regime.

He also passed IDF equipment that he found to Syrian security official, including a radio and a document relating to an Israeli military jeep. He also gave them an Israeli SIM card, Hebrew text books and a map of the Golan Heights.

Security sources said that during the Shin Bet investigation, it turned out that Juhari met with two of his friends in the Golan Heights, told them about his activities, and asked them to pass him any information that might interest Syrian intelligence. It was also noted that he agreed on code words with one of his friends, so that they could exchange coded information with Juhari when he was in Syria, which he could then pass on to his Syrian contacts.

Other people that were also detained and questioned as part of this investigation have now been released.

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