Five Lebanese men accused of spying on behalf of Israel have fled their country, the Lebanese newspaper Ad-Diyar reported on Thursday.
Rasan al-Jud, a former senior officer in the Lebanese Army, is thought to have escaped to Germany by commercial plane. The friend that drove al-Jud to the airport told the newspaper that he did not know the purpose of his trip.
Lebanese security forces are meanwhile searching for the other four suspects, who they believe have disappeared beyond the state's borders.
The Lebanese government plans to file an official complaint against Israel with the United Nations Security Council over the extensive spy ring it claims to have uncovered in the last year. It began a wave of arrests in April 2009 as part of an investigation in which dozens of people have been arrested.
The Lebanese complaint will center on Israel's alleged covert ties in the country's state-owned mobile telecom company Alfa. An employee of the company managed to flee the country on Sunday.
Ad-Diyar reported last week that Lebanese security forces are compiling a comprehensive report on spy networks that have been uncovered within the country. The report will detail how security forces were able to track and break up the networks.
According to Lebanese law, convicted spies face life in prison with hard labor or the death penalty if found guilty.