MARJAYOUN, Lebanon -- A Lebanese general arrested Wednesday after a video showed him drinking tea with Israeli soldiers says his encounter with them was a pleasant experience.

"They came peacefully up to our gate, asking to speak with me by name," Lebanese Interior Ministry Brig. Gen. Adnan Daoud said. He said the Israeli ranking officer was very polite.

The Israelis videotaped Daoud sipping tea with smiling Israeli soldiers then put it on television. It was later broadcast on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television and the interior ministry ordered Daoud arrested. Lebanon does not recognize Israel and forbids its citizens any contact with Israelis.

Daoud commands a joint police-army force of about 1,000 men, based in Marjayoun, a Christian town about 6 miles from the Israeli border. Israeli troops, part of an armored column that pushed deep into Lebanon last week, ended up on Daoud's doorstep and took over his base four days before a cease-fire took hold.

Daoud told The Associated Press in an interview shortly before his arrest that his meeting with the Israelis was a pleasant and professional, even touching on the possibility of future Israeli-Lebanese military relations in the south.

The videotape showed him walking with Israeli soldiers in the base courtyard.

"For four hours, I took him on a tour of our base," Daoud said of an Israeli official who introduced himself as Col. Ashaya.

"He was probably on an intelligence mission, and wanted to see if we had any Hezbollah in here," Daoud added.

After their meeting, Ashaya left, Daoud said. An hour later, the bombs started falling. Four Israeli tanks rolled up to the entrance of the Lebanese barracks, Daoud said, blowing holes in a steel gate and shattering glass in guard houses. Lebanese soldiers did not fire back, and no one was hurt.

Daoud said he wasn't sure whether his counterpart's friendliness was a ruse, or whether the Israelis got their signals crossed and opened fire not knowing Ashaya had been there.

Israeli troops seized the barracks and held Daoud and 350 soldiers for a day before allowing them to leave the occupied zone. Israel left the base on Tuesday, part of a withdrawal from positions taken in a month of heavy ground fighting.