Lebanese citizen Ali al-Jarah, who was recently arrested over espionage charges, made frequent visits to Israel at the Mossad's request, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, al-Jarah led a double life and was secretly married to two different women. His visits to Israel, the newspaper claimed, usually lasted for one or two days and included training on how to operate surveillance equipment and a radio transmitter.

A Mossad handler would contact al-Jarah on his mobile phone and ask him to travel to neighboring countries such as Jordan, Egyptand Cyprus, where the alleged spy would be given a fake Israeli passport, which he used to enter Israel, the report said.

During the visits to Israel al-Jarah would also pass on intelligence he had gathered. Lebanese security sources estimated that al-Jarah and his brother Yusuf were recruited by the Israeli intelligence in 1982, and have since carried out many missions.

According to a report published by the As-Safir newspaper last week, Lebanese officials believe that the "Israeli espionage network" uncovered recently was involved in the assassination of senior Hizbullah commander Imad Mugniyah.

Security sources told the daily that al-Jarah, the network's leader, had confessed to his investigators that he was ordered to survey the Kafr Sousa neighborhood in Damascus, where Mugniyah was killed by a car bomb in February.

According to the report, al-Jarah also admitted that he was later asked to reconnoiter the Syrian port city of Tartus, where senior officer Mohammed Suleiman was assassinated several months ago.