This handout picture released by the Israeli army shows (L to R) Israeli army Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, Israel Security Agency (ISA, also known as Shin Bet) director Ronen Bar, and Israeli intelligence agency Mossad director David Barnea at the Hostages and Missing Persons situation room during the return of the four hostages from Gaza on January 25, 2025. Israeli Army / AFP 
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Israel arrests two citizens for 'spying' for Iran

Agence France-Presse

Israel said Monday that it arrested two Israelis suspected of spying for Iran, including one accused of passing classified information obtained during his military service.

The arrests are the latest in a series of detentions in Israel of individuals charged with espionage on behalf of Iran, its arch-foe, since the summer.

Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, and the police reported the arrests of Yuri Eliaspov and Georgi Andreev, both from northern Israel.

Israeli media reported that both were reservists in the Israeli military, with Eliaspov suspected of recruiting Andreev for Tehran.

Eliaspov is accused of having "passed on to his processing officer secret information obtained during his military service in the air defense forces," a joint Shin Bet and police statement said.

Both men were paid for their work and were fully aware they were working against Israel, the statement added.

Israel's security is heavily reliant on its sophisticated air defense system, the "Iron Dome," which protects the country from many rockets and projectiles fired by Iran and its allies.

These allies include the Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel triggered the ongoing war in Gaza, and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

In April and October, Iran launched two unprecedented direct air assaults on Israel, firing several hundred missiles and drones at the country.

Most projectiles were intercepted.

Iran said the April attack was retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on Tehran's embassy in Damascus that killed 16 people.

It also claimed the October attacks were in revenge for the assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, killed in late July in Tehran, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in September.

Israel acknowledged responsibility for killing Haniyeh months after the incident.