In an unexpected and somewhat bizarre new development out of Israel, government authorities say they’ve busted up a significant spy network, arresting seven Israeli citizens for gathering information on behalf of Iranian intelligence.

Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet announced Monday that it “successfully dismantled a spy network involving seven Israeli citizens who were operating on behalf of Iranian intelligence.”

The detained have been identified as Jewish residents of Haifa and the north, even including an IDF soldier who had deserted the military. They have been named in Israeli press reports as Azis Nisanov, Alexander Sadykov, Vyacheslav Gushchin, Yevgeny Yoffe and Yigal Nissan – with the other two names not disclosed as they have been deemed minors.

Image: IDF/Middle East Eye

Shin Bet has said the group conducted hundreds of small operations on behalf of Tehran, mostly focused on photographing and monitoring sensitive military sites, even the locations of where Iron Dome battery sites are positioned.

They reportedly spied on Kirya defense headquarters in Tel Aviv and the Nevatim and Ramat David air bases, along with other bases of the Israel Defense Forces.

Some of these very sites were targeted by Iran’s Oct.1st ballistic missile attack, or else they have also been targeted by Hezbollah rockets from the north.

The tasks also allegedly involved the exchange of maps with their Iranian handlers, detailing locations of military sites. It is being called one of the “most serious cases” of Iran-related spying in memory.

“In return for their actions, the suspects were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of it in cryptocurrency, investigators say,” Times of Israel writes. The report notes further that “all of them have carried out espionage activities since the start of the war.”

One of the locations that the group of alleged spies are believed to have passed information to the Iranians on is Golani Brigade training base, which just last week was hit by a Hezbollah drone. Four soldiers died and dozens were injured when a kamikaze drone slammed into a crowded mess hall as troops were dining.

In recent years there have been multiple examples of Israeli intelligence operations on Iranian soil, either for assassinations or nuclear sabotage actions, but much more rare is to hear about Iranian intelligence operations conducted inside Israel.

Meanwhile, the US is scrambling to figure out the source of a recent leak of highly classified intelligence documents related to Israel’s preparations to attack Iran…

BREAKING: U.S. officials are investigating the apparent leak of two top-secret U.S. documents that show American spy agencies tracking possible Israeli preparations for conducting an attack on Iran, U.S. officials say. https://t.co/EzuNVZi33S

— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) October 20, 2024

Just last month there was a prior major alleged spying incident. At that time Israeli police identified 73-year-old Moti Maman from Ashkelon as being an Iranian intelligence asset. He reportedly expressed willingness to conduct an assassination campaign inside Israel at the behest of his Iranian handlers.

An Israeli Jew, Maman was accused of agreeing to receive one million dollars in total from Iranian intelligence if assassinations of some top Israeli officials were carried out. He’s described as having used frequent trips as a businessman in Turkey and in the region as cover.