BEIRUT/TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army captured one of its highest value terror suspects yet in a dramatic pre-dawn raid and gunbattle Thursday that led to the arrest of a senior ISIS-linked man accused of recruiting young Lebanese to fight with the group.
Three gunmen were killed during the raid to arrest the suspect, who is also a relative of a jihadist involved in the beheading of a captive Lebanese soldier, the military said.
In a statement, the military said “terrorist” Ahmad Salim Mikati, who was being monitored by Army Intelligence, was arrested in the Dinnieh region of north Lebanon during a raid on his apartment.
It said a Lebanese soldier was slightly wounded in the operation.
Dubbed a “delicate security operation,” the Army said the apartment housed a “group of terrorists” but also said it had yet to determine their identities.
The statement described Mikati, 46, as “one of ISIS’ most important cadres” in north Lebanon. Moreover, according to the Army, Mikati had set up cells affiliated with ISIS in the north.
Mikati also planned a “massive terrorist act” in coordination with his son, Omar, who is fighting with ISIS on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, according to the Army.
It said Mikati is also accused of maintaining contact with ISIS commanders inside Syria and of recruiting young Lebanese men to join ISIS on the outskirts of Qalamoun, including his son Omar, nicknamed Abu Huraira, and his nephew Bilal Mikati, who is implicated in the beheading of 1st Sgt. Ali Sayyed. Sayyed was the first of three Lebanese soldiers to be executed by Islamist militants, who are still holding 27 servicemen who were taken in a five-day battle with the Army in Arsal. They are believed to want to swap them with Islamist inmates held at Roumieh prison.Mikati has a warrant out for his arrest for his involvement in Tripoli battles last year after being released from jail in 2010. He had served six years for “masterminding a terrorist attack against diplomatic facilities and foreign interests,” the statement said. Furthermore, Mikati was linked to the 2003 bombing of the American fast-food outlet McDonald’s in the northern city of Tripoli. He also took part in the eight-day gunbattles against the Lebanese Army on the outer edge of Dinnieh in 1999 after which he fled to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in south Lebanon. He belonged to a group known at the time as Takfir wal Hijra.
The statement said troops confiscated light and medium weapons, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, bombs, explosive belts as well as military equipment, including uniforms belonging to the Army.
Security sources told The Daily Star the Army clashed with terror suspects during an early morning raid on a two-story house in the Dinnieh town of Asoun. They said two men, including a Syrian, were killed in the 5 a.m. raid and a Lebanese soldier was wounded in the exchange of gunfire.
Mikati was reportedly wounded during the operation and had escaped through a back door into nearby groves, according to the sources. But he was soon arrested by the Army and taken in an armored personnel carrier to a hospital outside north Lebanon where he was being kept under military guard.
The Army statement said Mikati was being interrogated by the military.
The security sources said prior to the raid that the Army arrested Abdel-Kader al-Akoumi, a soldier who had recently defected to ISIS.
The Daily Star’s security sources said the Asoun apartment was inhabited by a “terror ring” made up of Lebanese and Syrian gunmen wanted by authorities. They said among the fatalities was a Syrian national whose name was not immediately revealed and a charred body. The body of the Syrian man was taken to Asoun’s public hospital. The raid came as the military reassured soldiers that it stands stronger than ever in its fight against terrorism, and warned the small handful of defectors that Lebanon can do without them.
Later Thursday the National News Agency reported that two masked men on a motorcycle opened fire at retired soldier Khaled Youssef on Ibn Sina Street in the Qibbeh neighborhood of Tripoli. Youssef was rushed to hospital in critical condition after being hit by several shots.
In its first public statement that directly addresses the issue of the hostages abducted during the Arsal battle, the Army Command sought to boost the morale of its troops, committing to free the captives.
“Today, your institution is stronger and remains steadfast in attempts to undermine its unity and its role,” the statement, addressed to soldiers, said.
“The Army remains open in the ongoing confrontation against terrorism,” it added, assuring soldiers that military measures taken along the eastern border with Syria, particularly in the Arsal region, have “besieged terrorist groups spread across the mountains and cut their supply routes.”
The statement said that while troops stand ready to confront any infiltration attempt into Lebanese towns and villages, the Army has made “huge achievements” in dismantling terrorist cells and arresting its members.
Terrorists will never be safe in Lebanon, the statement vowed, and said the Army Command was committed to the liberation of the captives.
Addressing the minority of soldiers who have defected to join Islamist militants, the statement said: “There is no room for traitors … the Army does not need the services of any soldier who betrays his oath.”