A senior official in Lebanon's general security service has been arrested on suspicion of spying for an unnamed European state, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Sapir reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the alleged spy was employed by the European state to acquire information on the Hezbollah guerilla group, among other subjects.

The report said that the man was connected to the Mossad intelligence agency, as the Mossad has in the past tried to recruit secret agents from a European state and as that particular state has no interest in keeping tabs on the Hezbollah.

Sources in Lebanon's security force were suspicious of the behavior of the officer, who serves at Beirut's International Airport, and thus decided to trail him. During the trail, security officials learned that the man was allegedly attempting to recruit his colleagues and civilians to work on behalf of the European state's intelligence service.

According to suspicions, the officer photographed various Hezbollah headquarters and offices in Lebanon. During a search of the officer's house, investigators found pictures and maps of Hezbollah centers and buildings in the al-Dahiya neighborhood of Beirut, in the Bekaa Valley and in southern Lebanon.

The report said this is the first spy network exposed in the region since the second war in Lebanon. Another network was exposed just before the war broke out, in June 2006.