Lebanese politicians stressed Tuesday the need to "protect the country" against Israeli spying attempts after the arrest of a senior employee at a cell phone operating company on charges of collaborating with the Jewish state.

The Lebanese army announced Monday the arrest of Sharbel Qazi, a Lebanese senior employee at Alfa cell phone operating company.

It said in a statement that Qazi was spying for Israel and providing it with means to penetrate into the Lebanese cell phone network.

Army commander General Jean Qahwaji hailed the achievements made by the military's intelligence bureau which led to the arrest of the Alfa technician.

Qahwaji also called for military vigilance "to prevent enemy's penetration of Lebanese civilians," said local daily As Safir.

Two high-ranking Lebanese army officers were detained last year on charges of spying for Israel, while over 20 people were also arrested on charges of being affiliated to the Israel-linked spying network.

The newspaper said Qazi confessed that he had planted software and chips into Alfa's broadcasting stations, making the manipulation of data much easier for Israeli communications experts.

Parliament member Hassan Fadlallah, who is also a member of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, considered "the aggression on the communication network a critical Israeli breach of Lebanon's national security, the government security and all other public institutions."

Fadlallah called on the government to "take immediate actions to identify the damages" done to the telecom sector and "enforce the sector's security in order not to submit to Israel's technical control."