BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army foiled more terror plots Thursday, announcing the arrest of a cell planning a series of suicide attacks in the country and dismantling a car packed with explosives in northeastern Lebanon. Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, for his part, warned that terrorism from Syria and Iraq has actually reached Lebanon, while guaranteeing that Lebanese security services were fully capable of thwarting terrorist schemes.
The military said in a statement that it dismantled a Mercedes rigged with 120 kilograms of explosives after an Army Intelligence patrol spotted it in the area of Ain al-Shaab, on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal.
An earlier Army statement announced that the military thwarted a series of suicide attacks which were planned to take place after a twin suicide bombing which hit Tripoli Saturday.
The Army said it arrested Bassam Houssam al-Naboush, Elie Tony al-Warraq and Mohannad Ali Abdel-Kader who were plotting a series of terrorist attacks against “Army locations and residential areas.”
An Army source said that although his name indicated he was a Christian, Elie Tony al-Warraq was actually a Sunni from Tripoli.
The three suspects, who had been using fake Syrian and Palestinian IDs, were linked to Shadi Mawlawi and Osama Mansour, two of the most-wanted Islamist fugitives in Lebanon.
The men had pledged allegiance to “terrorist organizations and participated in the fighting in Syria as well as in attacks on the Army,” the statement said. The source identified the terrorist organizations as the Nusra Front and ISIS.
The statement added that Naboush, Warraq and Abdel-Kader had also participated in the series of deadly clashes over the last four years between the Tripoli neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen, which is sympathetic to Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Bab al-Tabbaneh, which supports the uprising in Syria.
The statement said the detainees were being interrogated by the judiciary and that the remaining members of the terrorist group were being pursued.
The arrests came a few days after twin suicide bombings – the first in the past six months – rocked the majority Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, killing nine people and wounding more than 30.
Meanwhile, Machnouk assured the Lebanese that security services were able to counter terrorist threats which he said the country was being exposed to.
“Terrorism from Syria and Iraq has now reached Lebanese territories – what happened in Arsal and lately in Jabal Mohsen stand as proof,” Machnouk said during an interview with LBCI television.
“Every area in Lebanon is targeted. But there is a high level of alertness, seriousness and a high capability to prevent the success of any [terrorist] operation on all Lebanese territories,” he added.
Militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front briefly took over Arsal last August and kidnapped over 30 Army soldiers and policemen. They are still holding at least 25 in the outskirts of Arsal.
Machnouk explained that Roumieh Prison’s Block B, which was cleared of its Islamist inmates Monday, was actually “an operations room contacting terrorists in Raqqa, Mosul, Arsal and Ain al-Hilweh.”
The Internal Security Forces moved inmates of Block B to Block D after intercepting calls between the Islamists and members of the cell behind Jabal Mohsen’s attacks.
Machnouk said the government would not accept any messing with the stability of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, located on the outskirts of the city of Sidon.
He said authorities would discuss the issue with Palestinian officials, but highlighted that no military operations would target the camp.
Machnouk said that a security plan in the northern Bekaa Valley would be launched soon.
“We will continue the security plan in the Bekaa Valley soon in coordination with the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces,” he said, adding that the security plan enjoyed a full political cover.