Beirut: A Lebanese and two Palestinians suspected of planning a massive car bombing have been arrested, just days after a deadly attack on Hezbollah’s southern Beirut bastion, the General Security agency said.
The men were accused of “setting up a terrorist group and conducting activities that affect security on Lebanese territory,” according to a statement late on Monday.
“They were preparing to stage an attack using an Audi car containing 250kg of explosives.”
The car was seized in the Naameh area of southern Beirut two days after a car bomb killed 27 people in a bastion of Shiite militant party Hezbollah, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
On Friday, the government said the army identified a network of people suspected of trying to carry out several car bomb attacks in southern Beirut.
The Thursday attack was the deadliest in Lebanon since a car-bomb attack killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others in February 2005.
It was claimed by a previously unknown cell, whose name has strong Sunni connotations, with a spokesman saying in a video distributed online that it was a response to Hezbollah’s support for Al Assad.
Lebanon is deeply divided between backers of the Al Assad regime and supporters of Syria’s rebels.
