Lebanon's Mossad hysteria: Palestinians with Israeli phone country code spark fear in Beirut

Rumors that two Israeli Mossad spies had been captured in Lebanon were “fake news,” Lebanese officials said on Sunday, seeking to quell panic sparked by the detention of two Palestinians whose phone numbers had Israeli country codes.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned what he described as “moral bankruptcy” surrounding the detention of the two Palestinians from Ramallah, according to a statement released by Lebanon’s Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

Salam’s office said hostile parties had fueled the rumors in a “cheap attempt to tarnish the reputation of the President of the Council of Ministers and mislead public opinion.”

It added that security forces had investigated the two men and found that both had entered Lebanon legally and had visited the country previously.

The Lebanese independent news outlet Beirut Time reported on Sunday that there were claims that two Mossad agents had been staying at the Lancaster Eden Bay hotel in Beirut under Turkish passports.

Palestinian men use Israeli phone numbers for Lebanon hotel reservations

Suspicion reportedly arose after the two Palestinian men used Israeli phone numbers to make a reservation. An Uber driver and hotel staff reportedly contacted the authorities, prompting an investigation.

The following day, rumors circulated that Salam had deported the two men rather than ordering their detention, prompting outrage among anti-Israel voices in Lebanon.

Anxieties surrounding Israel’s Mossad in Lebanon have seemingly grown since the pager plot in September 2024, when thousands of rigged pagers exploded across Lebanon and Syria, wounding and killing thousands of Hezbollah terrorists.

Though Hezbollah acknowledged that the majority of those injured and killed were members of the Iran-backed group, a number of civilians were also reported to have suffered life-altering injuries.