Several Lebanese media outlets, including Al-Akhbar and Lebanon Debate, along with Israeli publications like Haaretz and Yediot Aharonot, reported on Tuesday the arrest of a man who entered Lebanon claiming to be an "investigative journalist." He held a British passport but was found to possess an Israeli passport, which was seized by authorities.

According to these reports, the suspect traveled to the southern suburbs of Beirut, which have been under heavy bombardment by the Israeli army for two weeks. His behavior raised the suspicions of local residents, who then turned him over to the army’s intelligence services. The army discovered his Israeli passport and are currently interrogating him.

A military source told L’Orient-Le Jour that they neither confirmed nor denied the information but noted, "This is not the first time a suspicious individual has been arrested," adding that "a statement will be issued once intelligence services have shared precise information." However, according to reliable information obtained by L’OLJ, it was Hezbollah who arrested the man and handed him over to the army.

"Independent journalist"

Lebanon prohibits the entry of Israelis under all circumstances and also bars Lebanese citizens from entering Israel. This is especially significant given the ongoing intense Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory for more than two weeks, part of a conflict that has lasted over a year, which began when Hezbollah opened a front in support of Gaza against Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.

Regarding the arrested man, the Vision website describes him as an "independent journalist" who graduated from Brown University and the London School of Economics, where he studied international relations. He has lived in Latin America, the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, and has written extensively about Greece, Turkey, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ukraine and Russia. He is said to have previously worked for the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, the international defense and security team of Transparency International in London and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in Israel.

Media reports indicate that this was not his first visit to Beirut. On a Facebook page under his name, featuring a photo that matches one published on the Vision site, he posted a picture of himself with the caption "Beirut, Lebanon." The Israeli media outlet Yediot Aharonot published testimonials from acquaintances who described him as a frequent traveler to places such as "Greece, Brazil, Lebanon, Spain, Turkey and Pakistan." They characterized him as "strange" and "versatile," noting, "No one was surprised to learn that he had been arrested in Lebanon."