Israel arrests Swedish citizen charged with spying for Lebanese Hezbollah
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Israel says it has arrested a Swedish citizen and charged him with spying for Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group.
The Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet says Hassan Khalil Hizran was arrested last month when he arrived at the international airport in Tel Aviv. In a statement Sunday, the Shin Bet says Hizran confessed to being recruited by Hezbollah in 2009 and said he was asked to gather intelligence about Israeli military bases, tanks and weapons.
The Shin Bet said Swedish authorities had been notified of Hizran's arrest.
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Lea Tsemel, Hizran's lawyer, said her client did not carry out any of Hezbollah's requests and that he was visiting Israel for personal reasons. She said he was born to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and later immigrated to Sweden.