A Lebanese teacher has been arrested in the southern part of the country on charges of spying for Israel, according to the al-Akhbar newspaper. The paper quoted a high-level security source as saying A. Berri, a resident of the town of Tebnine, confessed under interrogation by internal security forces that he was told by Israel to stop the espionage last April.

Berri allegedly said he was asked to stop spying in order to avoid detection due to the arrests by Lebanese government agents last spring of a number of suspects charged with working on Israel's behalf. Jerusalem officials have not commented on the report.