Hezbollah member denies preparing Cyprus attack

[February 21, 2013]  LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AP) -- A man on trial for allegedly plotting attacks on Israelis in Cyprus says his Hezbollah handler in Lebanon did tell him to record the arrival times of an Israeli flight, but he is denying being part of a group preparing any attack.

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, a 24-year-old Swedish-Lebanese citizen, told a Limassol court Thursday that he traveled to Cyprus on business to buy local juice but also to collect information sought by a man he knew as Ayman.

Yaacoub said he used a code to note the license plate numbers of 2 buses transporting passengers from the Israeli flight. But he insisted he didn't know what the information was for.

Yaacoub was arrested last July, days before a bus bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian.

[Associated Press]

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