France Detains Accomplice of Napoleon Hotel Potential Suicide Bomber

Authorities in Paris have detained a man suspected of being the accomplice of a Frenchman who is originally from the Comoros islands and who was arrested in Beirut on charges of having links to the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant.

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Wednesday that the French suspect, who was detained in Paris, entered Lebanon with Fayez Bouchran, who was arrested by Lebanese authorities in June 20.

Sources said that the latter confessed that a Frenchman from Moroccan origins had accompanied him to Beirut.

However, the suspect had to leave Lebanon before the expiry of his passport.

The report said that Lebanese security forces briefed their French counterparts on Bouchran's confessions, prompting the arrest of his accomplice.

Earlier in June, security forces raided the Napoleon Hotel in Beirut's Hamra district after obtaining information on a plot to target hospitals and high-ranking security officials.

Over 100 people were interrogated during the security raid but only Bouchran was arrested and has reportedly confessed to being sent by the ISIL to carry out a terrorist attack in Lebanon.

Bouchran was reportedly part of a group of four would-be suicide bombers who had come to Lebanon.

H.K.

G.K.