Young Lebanese national arrested while holding a Swedish passport, details about Israeli tourists, media in Cyprus report. An attack against Israeli tourists in Cyprus appears to have been thwarted with the arrest of a Lebanese man who had been tracking Israeli tourists on the island, Cypriot security authorities revealed on Saturday.

The 24-year-old man, thought to be a Swedish passport holder of Lebanese extraction, was arrested on July 7 and was being detained following remand hearings held behind closed doors, Sigma TV reported. He has not been charged with any offense.

Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said: "We can confirm the arrest of a 24-year-old foreign national for specific, serious offenses, and who is in custody by order of the court."

It was not the first time that a Lebanese-Swedish national has been accused of plotting attacks against Israeli targets. In January, Thai authorities arrested Hussein Idris, a Lebanese-Swedish national together with another Lebanese man on suspicion that they were plotting a series of bomb attacks against Israeli targets in Bangkok.

Due to the attacks, Israeli diplomats have been on high alert amid predictions that Hezbollah is trying to avenge the assassination in 2008 of its military commander Imad Mughniyeh, which it attributes to the Mossad.

Sigma TV´s web portal reported the man had been tracking the movement of Israeli tourists on the island, while Cypriot newspaper Phileleftheros said he was attempting to pinpoint areas frequented by Israeli tourists and the buses they used.

A government source said the arrest took place following information from foreign intelligence agencies. Other media reported that the Mossad had provided Cypriot officials with information about the suspect.

"It is not clear what, or whether there was a target in Cyprus. That is under investigation," a senior government official told Reuters.

Cyprus lies just west of Syria and Lebanon but has been largely unscathed by the violence and upheaval rattling the Middle East. Its last major security incident was a botched car bomb attack on the Israeli embassy in the capital Nicosia in May 1988 which killed three people. Reuters contributed to the report. (© 1995-2011, The Jerusalem Post 07/15/12)