[Qwiw]

Israeli army briefly detains man at Lebanon border

AFP
02-03-2007

A Lebanese man detained on Friday by Israeli troops at the border with Lebanon was released later in the day, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said.
"We facilitated his transfer from the Israeli Defence Forces (army) into custody of the Lebanese authorities," Liam McDowall told AFP.

"We are carrying out further investigation to establish all the facts," he said, without wishing to disclose further details.

Earlier, McDowall said the Israelis "confirmed to UNIFIL that they are holding in custody a man they detained Friday in the immediate vicinity of the technical fence, east of (the southern Lebanese village of) Hula."

He could not confirm whether the man was detained on the Lebanese or Israeli side of the border.

Lebanese security sources said the man was gathering scrap metal in an area near the border with Israel when he was detained. They identified him as Mahmud Hussein Hajj, a resident of Hula.
Local residents have been collecting and selling scrap metal since last summer's 34-day war between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah that devastated several towns and villages near the border.