A man has been arrested in Lebanon after having reportedly offered “sensitive security information” to the Israeli embassy in Nicosia, according to reports on Wednesday.

Lebanese news website Lebanon Debate reported that the man, named as “Michel B”, appeared in military court after having allegedly sent a message to the embassy, claiming to hold sensitive information.

The website said the man is an “American of Lebanese origin” who “worked in military intelligence” in the United States’ army, before retiring to Lebanon in 2001, living in both Zahle, a town in the centre of the country, east of Beirut, and Qoubaiyat, in the country’s far north, near the Syrian border.

According to the reports, the Lebanese authorities were informed about his contact with the embassy in Nicosia in April.

He was subsequently arrested, and his mobile phone was analysed, with the Lebanese police reportedly finding that he had sent a text message to a number belonging to the Israeli embassy in Nicosia on October 30 last year.

In that message, he reportedly identified himself as an American citizen and said that he had previously sent the embassy “sensitive security information” via email.

However, he has, according to the reports, offered a different reason behind why he sent the message.

The website reported that he told the court that his aim was not to provide the Israeli embassy with security information, but to “entice” them into helping him contact the US embassy in Nicosia.

He had intended to contact the US embassy after “receiving no response from them to his request for assistance in returning to the United States with his wife”.

According to the reports, he had wished to leave Lebanon after receiving death threats and accusations that he was an “American Zionist”.

In his efforts to leave the country, he had reportedly previously attempted to contact the US embassy in Beirut, but to no avail.

He reportedly told the court that he had received “12 threatening calls from Lebanese numbers” after the death of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in 2024, prompting him to begin looking for ways to return to the US.

During questioning in court, he said that the reason he had attempted to contact the Israeli embassy was to “exert pressure so as to reach the Americans” after “direct contacts” with the US embassies in both Beirut and Nicosia “had failed”.

He also reportedly denied any “sympathy for or connection with” the State of Israel, and told the court, “I hate the Zionist Jews on religious grounds for killing Jesus Christ, and on national grounds for destroying the south and Lebanon”.

“I call them the cancer of the east,” he reportedly told the court.

After being arrested, he remained in custody for 35 days, before being released on a bail of £L70 million (€685). He will next appear in court in September.