A man on trial in Cyprus has admitted to being a member of Hizbollah but denied that he had taken part in a plot to target Israeli tourists, the New York Times has reported.

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, 24, from Lebanon, was arrested in July in possession of a small red notebook in which the licence plates of buses which carried Israelis were recorded. He denied that he was plotting to target Israelis, and said: “Even if they asked me to participate in a terrorist action I would refuse. I could never do that. I’m only trained to defend Lebanon.”

But the Lebanese national acknowledged that he was a courier for Hizbollah and that he had staked out locations in Cyprus frequented by Israelis.