Beirut: Three suspects, believed to have been tasked by a Syria-based terrorist group to scout possible targets for “bomb and vehicle-ramming attacks” in Lebanon, were arrested on Wednesday by units of the General Directorate of General Security.
An official statement released by the security service directorate identified the three suspects as a Lebanese national [M. Kh.], his Lebanese wife [H. H.] and a Palestinian refugee [M. M.], all of whom apparently confessed during interrogation that they belonged to a terrorist group, for communicating with senior officials in it, and for attempting to escape to Syria.”
It was unclear how the Palestinian recruited the Lebanese couple, but the contacts occurred in Turkey, which was also the chosen route to re-enter Syria to join the wife’s relatives who, allegedly, were established fighters with Al Nusra Front.
Turkish authorities first spotted the couple and informed the security directorate that they were repatriating them to Lebanon, whose members quickly placed them under surveillance.
According to the official statement, the handler tasked the male Lebanese to identify leading political figures and gather information about their movements for possible bomb attacks, suicide operations or vehicle-ramming operations.
The Palestinian ostensibly trained the Lebanese to communicate via a “highly complicated encrypted message” system, which the technical department of the General Directorate of General Security managed to decipher.
It was unclear whether other operatives cooperated or even coordinated with the three suspects, who were all referred to the relevant judicial authorities.
Interestingly, these latest arrests came a week after the arrest of a Syrian national in the Choueifat area, suspected of plotting to carry out an act of terror. That detainee was a delivery boy at a local restaurant and apparently plotted to set an explosive device before he was apprehended.
The security directorate detained two Daesh-linked men about a month ago suspected of planning a suicide attack in central Beirut, arrests that came two weeks after an attempted suicide attack at Hamra’s Costa cafe that was foiled in its final minutes, though details were murky.
Lebanon’s Minister of the Interior Nouhad Al Mashnouq claimed in several recent interviews that the country’s security services “prevented” a number of attacks in recent months, even if he was shy in providing details.
In the past, Lebanon experienced terrorist attacks, including by suicide bombers, some of which were linked to extremist groups fighting in neighbouring Syria. These increased in frequency after Hezbollah deployed its militiamen in the war starting in 2011.
Ironically, some of the deadliest attacks occurred in Hezbollah strongholds to punish the militia that is fighting alongside President Bashar Al Assad’s forces. According to Alexander Shumilin, the Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Middle East Conflicts at the Russian Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, between 7,000 and 10,000 Hezbollah militiamen are deployed in Syria whose expenses are entirely covered by Iran.
