Man Blows Himself Up during Security Raid at Raouche Hotel, 11 Hurt
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
A man blew himself up at a hotel in the Beirut area of Raouche on Wednesday as General Security members stormed his room.
TV footage showed broken windows and flames shooting from the third and fourth floors of the Duroy Hotel, located in Raouche, close to the sea.
According to Lebanese Red Cross director George Kettaneh, eleven people were injured in the blast, including seven civilians and four General Security members.
They were all rushed to the American University of Beirut Medical Center.
“Ambulances have been scrambled to the blast scene where a suicide bomber blew himself up inside his room at the Duroy Hotel in Raouche during a General Security raid,” al-Jadeed television reported.
MTV said the suicide bomber was a Saudi national and quoted security sources as saying that “there are no other terrorists in the hotel.”
Later on Wednesday, state-run National News agency said "it has been confirmed that the suicide bomber is 20-year-old Saudi national Abdul Rahman al-Humaiqi.”
“The raid was a continuation of the security operation that started at Hamra's Napoleon Hotel and security forces are still tight-lipped over the information,” LBCI TV said, noting that “the security operation is still underway in search for possible bombs and booby-trapped cars in the hotel and its vicinity.”
Quoting reports, LBCI said “another suicide bomber might be inside the hotel and negotiations are ongoing to thwart him from blowing himself up.”
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq inspected the blast scene, saying “three General Security members were lightly wounded.”
He confirmed that a Saudi would-be suicide bomber was wounded in the blast, describing the security raid as “a preemptive strike by the General Security agency.”
Meanwhile, the shadowy Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade claimed responsibility for the bombing on its Twitter account, saying “other jihadists” managed to flee the blast scene.
“Our blessed operations will not be merciful on (Hizbullah), the Crusader army (Lebanese Army) and anyone targeting the free jihadists,” the group threatened.
“The victory that is being achieved by the Islamic State of Iraq (and the Levant) against (Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri) al-Maliki's army is a motivation for every jihadist in the world,” the Brigade added.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr said a suspect was arrested at the hotel, revealing that three General Security members were wounded.
“Two Saudi suicide bombers were at the hotel in Raouche and security forces arrested one while the other blew himself up,” al-Jadeed TV said.
It added that two General Security members were “critically wounded.”
The TV network said three men of Arab nationalities were arrested at the hotel.
OTV said “two suicide bombers of Gulf nationalities” blew themselves up as their room was raided.
It said the raid at the hotel had to do with “the cell that was arrested in the North.”
LBCI said “a suitcase containing seven kilos of explosives was found in the possession of the two suicide bombers at the Duroy Hotel.”
For its part, NNA said a booby-trapped suitcase was discovered in the vicinity of the Duroy Hotel.
“The arrested would-be suicide bomber is from the al-Swainy family and he was born in 1995,” MTV said.
The General Security raid followed the arrest last Friday in a hotel in the nearby Hamra district of the capital of a Frenchman of Comoran origin on suspicion of plotting to carry out suicide bombings in Lebanon on behalf of the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group.
That is the same group that has spearheaded the offensive by Sunni Arab militants that has swept up a big swathe of northern and north-central Iraq over the past two weeks and also made gains in neighboring Syria.
On Monday, the al-Akhbar newspaper reported that investigators suspected the detained Frenchman was part of a cell of four would-be suicide bombers who had entered Lebanon.
The same night, a young, off-duty General Security inspector was killed as he stopped a car driving the wrong way up a street towards a cafe in the Tayyouneh district of south Beirut whose driver then blew it up.
The bomber also wounded 12 other people.
Y.R.
25 June 2014, 22:26
53
I might see a reason why a Saudi man wants to do what he does best against Shiaa in Lebanon or Iraq. But what I still can not comprehend: why the Saudi man is killing New Yorkers, Bostonians, Spanish, Russians, Chinese
25 June 2014, 20:48
00
thank god lebanon is much safer since hezbollah went to syria just like hassan promised
25 June 2014, 21:00
36
I would like to thank General Hassan Nasrallah, Terrorist in Chief of Hezbollah of sending an open invitation to his enemies to turn Lebanon into a hellhole !
His actions are responsible for ruining our entire economy and messing up every single summer season since 2005 !
I hope he's happy !
Disarm everyone in Lebanon immediately ! Put en end to the rule of these illegal gangs !
25 June 2014, 21:08
54
We can't disarm Hezbollah. Hezbollah is in total control, is more powerful than the army and is holding the entire country hostage. Every single Lebanese and every single government institution is hostage to Hezbollah.
25 June 2014, 21:25
44
Texas, I wish you were right, but I have doubts. Hezbollah is not some ragtag miltia. It is an extremely well trained, equipped, financed and motivated ARMY. It has huge grassroots support among the Shia. Whether we like it or not, it made the Shia count in this country after decades of marginalization. I am not against the Shia taking their fair share of power and influence in the country - quite the contrary. I am on the other hand vehemently opposed to an organization like Hezbollah that hijacks an entire country for its own purposes. Hezbollah seems to have succeeded in convincing its supporters that there are no Shia without Hezbollah. So for many, many Shia, the question of Hezbollah's weapons is an existential one. Hezbollah isn't going to implode any time soon, in my opinion.
25 June 2014, 21:04
46
@Southern : Hassan Nasrallah is directly responsible for the events that are unfolding in Lebanon ! Had he stuck to his mission of defending our southern border, this would never had happened !
You are not allowed to express yourself except to apologise for your stubbornness, arrogance and crimes !
Hassan Nasrallah and his crew should be hanged along with every other sunni extremist and terrorist in this country !
25 June 2014, 21:09
66
And how did you come to the conclusion that the Saudi king is behind this?
25 June 2014, 21:10
36
The army must immediately
- take over control of Lebanon,
- arrest all religious leaders,
- arrest all politician involved in Lebanon's war
- disarm all political and "pseudo-political" parties
- take control of all borders and shoot anyone coming in and out of the country be it Hezbollah or other Arab terrorists.
- establish military rule for a period of 2 years during which the grounds will be laid for a new breed of politicians to come up and draft a new constitution
- organise a referendum on the new constitution
- organise the election of a new political class
25 June 2014, 21:16
34
Hezbollah won't let the Army do this. It would mean a drastic loss of influence for Hezbollah and Iran. And if Hezbollah doesn't want something done, it won't get done. Guns talk in this country, and Hezbollah has the biggest ones.
26 June 2014, 00:27
22
Then let them fight the army. The first bullet they shoot, they lose ! Because the people won't accept this. Not even them.
26 June 2014, 12:48
00
@FT : You are wishing for a Match. There shouldn't be a match.
It's natural for the army to be the sole holder of weapons in the country. Only Hassan Nasrallah and idiots like yourself would turn this into a "match".
25 June 2014, 21:53
58
Lebanon is ruled by the iranian thugs calling themselves resistance. Resistance that brought doom and gloom to Lebanon and fake victories. No one should enter Lebanon without visas anymore. We have no tourism in Lebanon, it is all fake. We have pollution, traffic jams, armed militias, terrorism, and a coterie of online self-proclaimed experts.
25 June 2014, 22:10
00
Whether it is in NY, Boston or Madrid, the terrorists killing work-goers are always belong or supported by same culture.
25 June 2014, 22:12
00
He said we go there so they don't come here, but they still came here he told them we are there come fight us there they did not agree they still came here why is he still there must be something else he's not telling or just waiting for them to give him a fresh lie to tell us.
25 June 2014, 22:35
10
"Muslim wrath"- killing innocent people and blowying yourself up for no reason, some "wrath". filthy losers
25 June 2014, 23:06
54
Oh look, a terrorist from Saudi Arabia. I've never seen that before.
25 June 2014, 23:11
55
Brilliant speech de facto, down with the jihadi Muslims and their blood soaked sword they only know hate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQl402Eaeco
26 June 2014, 01:04
33
they try to bark like rottweilers but are as harmless as a puppy! FT is the perfect example of a frustrated syrian puppy....
26 June 2014, 03:52
21
the army should also apprehend the assassins of Hariri, Tueni, etc...
Do I need to provide the culprits' addresses in Dahye and Damascus?
26 June 2014, 04:45
02
We are under attack by these filthy animals who use God's name in vein to justify their murderous and pre- historic actions. Regardless of the cause ( and we are under no illusion who brought this filth to our door) , we should be standing together to rid ourselves of these animals and stand united as a country. All this bickering serves only to divide us further therefore somewhat validating these cowardly acts. We must first and foremost stay united as we did in 2006. We must also as one voice demand HA withdraw from Syria and support the LAF under the LAF command until such time we are truely rid of these animals then HA must integrate into the army. We as Lebanese are unbeatable when united but we will not tolerate a rouge militia being part of the problem. They must start to be part of the solution that is a unified LAF W BASS!!
26 June 2014, 09:47
01
wahabism is a violent satanic death cult. this man's suicide is the essence of his filthy cult known as wahabism. it needs to be smashed and put down on a global scale, time to wake up world.
26 June 2014, 11:22
00
hit every crevice , cave , dungeon these bastards are in and dissect this filthy germ called suicide bombers and terrorists ...bravo Lebanese security
26 June 2014, 12:35
01
killing innocent civilians on the streets by road bombs planted by hizballah and his allies to target men of opinion is not less of a terror than those terrorist suicide bombers.
we are not sure of what da3esh is, his relationship with assad is as dubious as fat7 el islam which leader shaker el 3absi was one of the very lucky to leave assad prisions after 3 years of. we however are sure what hizballah is.
let us stand united against both, let us condemn sunni and shi3i terror represented by both da3esh and 7alesh. # Da3esh = Hizballa
26 June 2014, 15:41
03
@Mystic : with all due respect, when calling Hezbollah terrorists, we do not mean that all shiites are terrorists. When calling your Ayatollah a terrorist, this doesn't mean all Iranians are terrorists and enemies of Lebanon.
So, you cannot state that Saudis are enemies. Radicals are enemies whether they are sunni or shia ! Not Saudis, not Syrians, not Iranians. Their regimes surely... not the people which want nothing more than live in peace ...
26 June 2014, 13:36
20
“Our blessed operations will not be merciful on (Hizbullah), the Crusader army (Lebanese Army) and anyone targeting the free jihadists,” the group threatened.
Even the salafis recognize the Resistance and the LAF as one. So why do we keep hearing M14 minions say differently?
26 June 2014, 14:14
01
They are not "one" unless Hezbollah's military falls under the exclusive authority of the state, i.e. merges with the LAF. Until then, Hezbollah is a state-within-the-state, and an organization that holds the Lebanese people hostages to the whims of hassan nasrallah.
26 June 2014, 17:05
11
Although terrorism may be inevitable considering these Gulf parasites have terrorized the entire world, we cannot deny the treason Hezbollah is committing in Syria on behalf of their masters in Iran is only complicating the situation and making Lebanon a magnet for Jihadist terrorists. ALL Islamists should be disarmed, deported, hanged, you choose, whether they are in Tripoli or Dahyeh, they are a burden on humanity and Lebanon.
26 June 2014, 17:06
10
Excuse me? There are plenty of Shiites such as myself that absolutely hate Hezbollah and Iran but scum like you make us think what is the alternative... you think you are any different than those you criticize? You are all Jihadist parasites, scum of the earth.
26 June 2014, 17:10
00
Oh please, Hezbollah is nothing but an Iranian paramilitary organization that is loyal to Iran first and Lebanon second. I am from the South and I see very well we replaced Israel with Iran, we are still being occupied and we are still dying for foreign countries, Hezbollah can burn in h*ll along with all other Islamist groups in Tripoli and ALL non-state illegal arms.
26 June 2014, 17:13
00
Josh, do you have a complex with Shiites? I am a Shiite, I find your bigotry and fascism and blind hatred scary and comical at once. Remember something, Shiites dont consider Christians and Jews and heretics and infidels, it is your takfiri friends but maybe when they come rape and pillage your little resort in Jounieh you will change your mind. Only in Lebanon do some right-wing Christians support Jihadists... as far as I am concerned, you right-wing scum, Hezbollah, and the takfiris are all the same.
