Rifaat and Ali Eid Leave Lebanon to Syria

Arab Democratic Party leader Ali Eid left Lebanon to Syria on Saturday, accompanied by his son, the party's politburo chief Rifaat Eid.

“Ali Eid left Lebanon,” al-Jadeed television said, without providing any additional details.

"Ali Eid has left Lebanon and is now in Syria,” MTV reported, quoting a security official.

It added: “Rifaat Eid left (the northern neighborhood of) Jabal Mohsen at night and probably took illegal routes to cross into Syria.”

According to the same source, Rifaat Eid will travel from Syria to the United States.

In a related matter, radio Voice of Lebanon (100.5) reported late in the evening that general security forces arrested at a checkpoint in the northern city of Tripoli Lebanese national Suleiman Ali Saeed, nicknamed al-Abashi, who has several arrest warrants against him.

Saeed is the leader of the “al-Masharef” fighting frontier in Jabal Mohsen.

The cabinet had approved on Thursday a security plan for Tripoli and areas bordering Syria.

The plan took into consideration the recommendations of the Higher Defense Council on a security plan in Tripoli and Bekaa valley's northern areas.

The government tasked the army and security forces with seizing arms depots in the northern city, and taking all measures to arrest suspects involved in the fighting, in addition to kidnappers and assailants involved in car theft in the Bekaa.

And on Wednesday, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered convicting 21 people in the case of the double blast that targeted two mosques in Tripoli last summer.

Among the convicted were Ali Eid and the head of the pro-Syria Islamic Tawhid Movement-Command Council, Sheikh Hashem Minkara.