Ali Amad Mari, a Lebanese citizen infiltrated into Israel on Thursday, reaching as far as Kiryat Shmona, 10 kilometers from the border.
Citizens noticed the suspicious looking man at the central bus station and notified the police.
The IDF said the unarmed man entered Israel by crossing the fence near Moshav Margaliot. The IDF did not say how the man managed to cross the fence unnoticed and unharmed.
He was returned to Lebanon via UNIFIL.
The man’s father, speaking on Lebanese TV, according to a YNet report, said his son is mentally ill, and had even claimed in the past to be Jewish.
Hezbollah released a map showing the path that Ali Mari took from Lebanon to Kiryat Shmona in an attempt at psychological warfare.