Israeli Reservist Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for Iran

Alsharq Tribune- Mohamed Otaify

Israeli police said on Friday they had arrested an army reservist who served on the Iron Dome air defense system on suspicion of passing secrets to Iran.

The arrest comes as Israel and the United States are locked in a war with Iran that has spread across the Middle East.

"Raz Cohen, a 26-year-old resident of Jerusalem who served in the reserves in the Iron Dome system, was recently arrested on suspicion of committing security offenses involving contact with Iranian intelligence," Israeli police said.

"Over the course of several months, the citizen maintained contact with Iranian intelligence operatives and, under their instructions, was asked to carry out various security missions, including passing on sensitive security information."

Iran has been firing barrages of missiles at Israel in retaliation for a US-Israeli bombing campaign that began on February 28 with the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Israel's state-of-the-art air defenses have managed to intercept many of the missiles fired by Tehran, but there have been deaths and damage to some strategic sites.

According to Israeli rescue services and authorities, Iranian missile fire toward Israel has killed 15 civilians in the country since the start of the war. Four Palestinian women also died after Iranian missile fire in the occupied West Bank, the Ramallah-based health ministry said.