Hezbollah member arrested in Cyprus admits to tracking Israelis there

           In Cyprus, a man being tried on allegations he planned attacks on Israeli tourists in Cyprus has admitted to being a member of Hezbollah and staking out locations that such visitors frequent. The lawyer for the man, Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, noted that his client, who is Swedish and Lebanese, came to Cyprus on business with no plan to harm anyone. But his client also admitted that an unidientified man in Lebanon gave him the mission of recording flight arrivals and bus routes of Israeli tourists and checking out a hospital parking lot. The attorney said his client acted alone and that instructions were given to him by a man whose face he could not see. He said that while his client's actions may raise suspicions, there is no hard proof that Yaacoub was planning an attack. Yaacoub pleaded not guity to eight charges including conspiracy and consent to commitee a criminal offense and participation in a criminal organization. He initially faced 17 terrorism and terrorism-related charges, according to police, but prosecutors dropped any reference to terrorism in the new charges, without explanation. Cyprus police arrested Yaacoub last July, several days before the bombing in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas, which killed five Israeli tourists and a local bus driver, and which Bulgaria has accused Hezbollah of carrying out. Authorities in Cyprus have been reluctant to link the Cyprus case to the attack in Bulgaria, but both have fed concerns about the group's activities in Europe.