Report: Army Intelligence Launches Crackdown on 'Terrorist' Cells in the Bekaa

The Army Intelligence launched recently a crackdown on “terrorist” cells in the middle and west Bekaa that support armed Syrian opposition groups, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to a report published in the daily, the army intelligence is raiding several towns in the middle and west Bekaa, where wanted suspects took shelter.

The suspects are allegedly involved in planting road side bombs in the Bekaa and attacking army and Hizbullah convoys.

A security source told the newspaper that the raids are based on a series of investigations and according to testimonies from detainees, who in turn confessed to their involvement.

The source pointed that “tens of Lebanese and Syrian nationals were detained.”

The suspects reportedly form “secret” cells that move between the villages of Bekaa and their activity increases and calms according to the security situation in the country.

The source revealed that the cells are “directly linked to the armed Syrian opposition groups and recruiting youth and sending them to battles in Syria, in addition to plotting terrorist acts along Lebanese territories.”

Several Hizbullah convoys that were heading to Syria were targeted in the Bekaa recently.

The last bomb attack was in July after one vehicle was struck by an explosion near the al-Masnaa border-crossing, while other vehicles in the convoy escaped the attack and continued along the road.

The bombing was the fourth time that a vehicle has been targeted by an explosive device in the Bekaa region, which is a stronghold of Hizbullah.

Hizbullah has dispatched fighters to battle alongside the Syrian regime against rebels seeking the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.

The party had justified its intervention in Syria by saying it was backing popular committees defending Lebanese-inhabited towns in Syrian territory near Lebanon's border from attacks by rebels and extremists. It had also admitted that its fighters were guarding Shiite holy shrines in Damascus province.