Suspect in Security Forces Custody Says Monitored Movement of Hizbullah Officials

Military Tribunal Judge Imad al-Zein completed on Wednesday the interrogation of a suspect linked to the case of Jamal Daftardar, who is held for his connections to the al-Qaida-affiliated Abdullah Azzam Brigades, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Zein interrogated Mohammed al-Aajouz and issued arrest warrants against nine suspects who are at large.

The suspects include Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian nationals.

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat had reported on Wednesday that a suspect, likely Aajouz, had confessed that he was tasked by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades with monitoring the movement of several Hizbullah officials in Beirut's southern suburbs, confirming his links to the head of the al-Qaida affiliated group Toufik Taha.

According to the daily, the suspect identified by his initials M. Aa. informed the Internal Security Forces Intelligence bureau during his questioning that he contacted Taha, who succeeded Majed al-Majed after he deceased.

The suspect also allegedly has ties with Daftardar, who was arrested in the western Bekaa region on January 15 and was charged with belonging to the Ziad al-Jarrah Battalion, which is part of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

However, the detained man denied having any security role in the brigades, saying that he rejected a task to provide it with communication devices.

M. Aa. is the owner of a cellphone shop in Haret Hreik neighborhood in Dahiyeh, a Hizbullah stronghold.

He reportedly confessed to meeting Taha several times in the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp that lies near the southern city of Sidon.

The newspaper said that the suspect also has strong ties with Daftardar and provided him with shelter, whenever he came back from Syria to Lebanon.

M. Aa. was detained two weeks ago in Haret Hreik by the Intelligence Bureau and was handed over to army intelligence after interrogations.

Several of the latest attacks on Hizbullah strongholds have been claimed by the brigades whose leader Majed al-Majed was captured by Lebanese authorities in December and died in custody later month.

The report comes after the army defused a booby-trapped car Sunday in the outskirts of the Baalbek town of Ham. The vehicle which infiltrated Lebanon from Syria contained around 240 kilos of explosives, 10 kilos of extremely flammable material and two 122 mm artillery shells.

On Wednesday, the army also announced the arrest of top militant Naim Abbas, one of the leaders of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

Following his interrogation, he told the army about a car rigged with more than 100 kilos of explosives which was dismantled in Beirut's Corniche al-Mazraa district.

Abbas, a Palestinian leader in the Brigades, has been described as the group's number two man in Lebanon.