As of Friday morning, Israeli security agencies are still searching for the identity of an assailant who infiltrated into the country from Lebanon on Monday. The attacker exploded a device on the roadside in the north of the country, seriously injuring a driver. Though the assailant was later killed, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are still concerned over this precedent.

The incident started last Monday. Residents of northern Israel experienced three days of grim uncertainty and apocalyptic rumors after photos appeared on social media depicting the arrest at gunpoint of an unidentified man adjacent to the border fence with Lebanon. The rumors about the unexplained arrest of the cowering man were linked on social media to a powerful roadside explosion early Monday near Megiddo Junction, some 40 miles south of the border, in which an Israeli driver, an Arab citizen of Israel, was badly wounded.

No explanation was given for this link nor for these events because the military censor imposed a sweeping gag order, further fueling fears. According to one rumor, four Hezbollah members had infiltrated Israel from Lebanon through an attack tunnel and almost carried out a mass terror attack. Emerging complaints by mayors of northern Israeli towns about lack of government funding for anti-rocket shelters only served to confuse the matter further.

When the gag order was finally lifted on Wednesday, the facts turned out to be far removed from the rumors. According to the official army and Shin Bet security agency statement, a terrorist had indeed infiltrated Israel from Lebanon, the first such infiltration in many years. He was said to be armed and skilled. His point of entry is not yet clear, nor his organizational affiliation. Most indications obviously point to Hezbollah, which controls much of southern Lebanon. Israeli officials say that even if the infiltrator was a Palestinian who had undergone Shiite radicalization by Hezbollah, it is holding Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah responsible.