Jerusalem - Claiming to have broken an extensive Israeli spy ring, the Lebanese government yesterday charged 77 people with passing military information to the Jewish state and attempting to destabilise Lebanon by fomenting ethnic tensions.
Security officials said 17 suspects had been arrested two weeks ago, mostly in villages near the Israeli-run southern "security zone", and the remaining 60 were being hunted. Some are thought to have escaped into the zone, which serves as a buffer between northern Israel and Iranian-backed Hizbullah guerrillas.
