U. S. pressure on the national telecommunications sector was a violation of Lebanese sovereignty, Hezbollah lawmakers in Lebanon has complained.

Washington had asked Lebanese officials for data on the national telecommunications sector. Saying the effort amounted to spying, local media reacted earlier this month to the request.

The U. S. Embassy in Beirut issued the request in April 2009, though it was turned down by Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, who served as telecommunications minister in the previous government.

Beirut correspondents for Iran's Press TV reported that Mohammad Fneish, the Lebanese minister of state for administrative reform and Hezbollah member, said the Washington effort was illegal.

Fneish called on lawmakers to address the U. S. inquiries.

He was concerned by the request because of the strategic partnership between Washington and Hezbollah arch-foe Israel, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in early March had said.

It "managed to uncover a spy device" in south Lebanon, Hezbollah during heightened border tensions with Israel in October had said.

It found the device planted on telecommunications equipment following the 34-day conflict with militants in the Shiite resistance movement in 2006, Hezbollah had further said.