The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah says the CIA has recruited at least two low-level members of the group to spy for Israel.

In a televised speech Friday, Hassan Nasrallah said two members of his Shi'ite movement had confessed to being CIA agents and the group was investigating whether a third member had been recruited by the CIA, Israel's Mossad or the intelligence service of a European country.

It was the first time the Iranian-backed group has claimed that it had been penetrated by spies.

The U.S. embassy in Beirut denied the allegation and a Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said he “would not dignify'' the accusations with a comment.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.

Hezbollah shares power in Lebanon's fragile unity government, which launched reconciliation talks between rival political parties in 2008 following deadly sectarian clashes that lasted more than a year.

The United States lists Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.