Last update - 00:00 07/01/2008
IDF troops detain Lebanese man who crossed border near Har Dov
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
Israel Defense Forces troops arrested a Lebanese man Monday who had crossed into Israel, and security officials are investigating whether he may have been sent to collect intelligence for Hezbollah.
However, officials with knowledge of the situation said the unarmed man appeared to be a shepherd who lost his way. The Lebanese man was arrested in the Har Dov area, near Israel's border with Lebanon, and transferred to security officials for questioning.
Lebanese security officials reported that the man, identified as 21-year-old Fadi Ahmed Abdel-Al, had been herding his goats in the Hilta farms, which are next to Har Dov, when he wandered inside the disputed area, a small slice of territory in an area where Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet.
The Lebanese state-run National News Agency said Prime Minister Fouad Siniora condemned the "Israeli aggression against a Lebanese citizen" and was in contact with UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon to try and secure Abdel-Al's release.
In the past, the IDF has detained shepherds from the tense area, often releasing them after questioning.
Lebanon says the area belongs to it, but UN cartographers say it belongs to the part of the Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.