Saqr Charges 5 Nusra Front Members, Unidentified Sidon Attack Suspects

The Military Prosecutor charged on Thursday several Syrian detainees on suspicious of belonging to a jihadist group affiliated with al-Qaida and plotting terrorist attacks in Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr issued the charges against five suspects with belonging to al-Nusra Front and a terrorist organization to carry out terrorist activities.

Saqr referred the detainees to the first military examining magistrate.

Jabhat al-Nusra, or al-Nusra Front, initially joined forces with moderate rebels fighting to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad in a conflict that began in March 2011 as a popular uprising but morphed into a civil war.

But it began employing brutal tactics and trying to impose its strict interpretation of Islamic law, alienating other factions and leading to some of the worst infighting of the conflict.

Al-Nusra was designated a "terrorist" organization by the United States late 2012.

Also Thursday, Saqr charged unidentified suspects with attacking the Lebanese army in two separate assaults in the southern city of Sidon.

The charges include their participation with other gunmen in the near-simultaneous attacks on the army in the Awwali bridge area and Majdelyoun.

They were also charged with arms possession and the killing of a Lebanese soldier.

Several suspects and soldiers were killed and injured in the Dec. 15 attacks.

The army has said that at least two suspects were on the run.