Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to hack U.N. Lebanon peacekeepers

Israel accused the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah of conducting a cyber operation

Israel accused the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah on Wednesday of conducting a cyber operation designed to disrupt a U.N. peacekeeping mission on the border between the countries, and threatened harsh Israeli retaliation against enemy hackers, Qazet.az reports.

The allegation to which there was no immediate response from Beirut, Tehran or the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) came as Israeli-Iranian tensions soar.

In what he termed a first public disclosure of the incident, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said "Iranian security institutions in cooperation with Hezbollah (recently) launched a cyber operation with the aim of stealing materials about UNIFIL activities and deployment in the area, for Hezbollah's use".

"This is yet another direct attack by Iran and Hezbollah on Lebanese citizens and on Lebanon's stability," he told a cyber conference at Tel Aviv University, without elaborating.