The United States and Britain have monitored secret sorties and communications by Israel’s air force in a hacking operation dating back to 1998, according to documents attributed to leaks by whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
Israel voiced disappointment at the disclosures, which were published on Friday in three media outlets and might further strain relations with Washington after years of feuding over strategies on Iran and Palestinians.
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily said the U.S. National Security Agency, which specialises in electronic surveillance, and its British counterpart GCHQ spied on Israeli air force missions against the Palestinian enclave Gaza, Syria and Iran.
The spy operation, codenamed “Anarchist,” was run out of a Cyprus base and targeted other Middle East states too, it said. Its findings were mirrored by stories in Germany’s Der Spiegel newsmagazine and the online publication ‘The Intercept’.
“This access is indispensable for maintaining an understanding of Israeli military training and operations and thus an insight to possible future developments in the region,” ‘The Intercept’ quoted a GCHQ report as saying in 2008.
Published - January 30, 2016 02:13 am IST
