Israeli security forces destroyed makeshift structures in a wildcat settlement outpost on Thursday, sparking protests which saw six Jewish settlers arrested, police and the army said.

"The army went to demolish two structures erected without permission near Yitzhar (settlement) and six people who demonstrated against it were arrested," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Iran insisted on Wednesday that it had obtained images of sensitive areas of Israel from a Hizbullah drone before it was shot down, despite the Jewish state questioning if the aircraft carried a camera.

"The fact that we have obtained the images of many areas that are important for us is the proof that we have conducted a successful mission," Revolutionary Guards' spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif told the ISNA news agency.

A 12-strong Israeli force on Wednesday kidnapped Lebanese shepherd Ismail Khalil Nabaa who hails from the southern border town of Shebaa, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

Nabaa was abducted while grazing his flock on the heights of Jabal al-Saddaneh, north of the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line, NNA said, adding that the shepherd was taken to Israel.

French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks without any conditions, while criticizing continued Israeli occupation.

"Only negotiations can lead to a definitive solution," he said after his first direct meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris.

The Arab world will be "relieved" if Israel strikes at Iranian nuclear installations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published Wednesday by France's Paris-Match weekly.

He said in case of an attack, "five minutes later, contrary to what skeptics think, I believe there will be a great feeling of relief throughout the region," said Netanyahu, who on Wednesday began a key two-day visit to France.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks Wednesday with President Francois Hollande on the Iranian nuclear program.

The two-day trip is Netanyahu's "first opportunity to talk with President Hollande, and he hopes to build a good working relationship with the French leader," a source close to the Israeli leader told AFP.

Iran averted a showdown over its nuclear program by putting a third of its medium-enriched uranium to civilian use, but the respite may be short-lived, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph while on a visit to London, Barak said it was "probable" that a tipping point in Israel's standoff with Iran over its nuclear program would have been reached before the U.S. presidential election next month had Iran not diverted the fuel in August.

The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau arrested on Saturday a Nigerian national who was allegedly monitoring the Beirut residence of the mother of Mustaqbal bloc MP Nouhad al-Mashnouq, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Wednesday.

An informed security source told the daily that the Nigerian man was a detained in Beirut's Caracas neighborhood where, according to witnesses, he had been monitoring Mashnouq's mother's building from a nearby building for a couple of days.

The visit of two Iranian naval ships to Sudan reflects strong ties between the countries, Sudan's military said on Tuesday after Khartoum denied Iranian involvement in weapons manufacturing.

Sudan's links to Iran have come under scrutiny after Khartoum accused Israel of sending four radar-evading aircraft to strike the Yarmouk military factory in the heart of the capital at midnight on October 23.

Sudan's foreign ministry on Monday denied that Iran had any involvement in a military factory which Khartoum says was attacked by Israeli aircraft last week.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms what is known by all: that Iran has no need to manufacture weapons in Sudan, for Iran or for its allies," the ministry said in a statement.