Army in Tripoli Raids as Local Group Denies Pledging Allegiance to IS

The army on Friday carried out raids in Tripoli and arrested a Syrian man accused of belonging to a terrorist organization, as a prominent militant group in the northern city denied pledging allegiance to the Islamic State or al-Nusra Front.

“The army is carrying out raids in Tripoli following reports of alleged movements by Nusra-linked armed groups,” Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported in the evening.

It said troops arrested Syrian national Adham Hajj Hamidi in Tripoli's Abi Samra on charges of belonging to a “terrorist group.”

Meanwhile a local militant group led by young Tripoli resident Osama Mansour denied reports that it had pledged allegiance to IS or Nusra.

Mansour, 27, had been wanted on dozens of arrest warrants and he was recently apprehended in the Bekaa before being eventually released, LBCI television said.

“We're closer to al-Nusra Front's policy, ideology … and behavior on the ground. We admire al-Nusra Front and we're closer to it, but we have not pledged allegiance to the IS or the Front,” Mansour, who some locals refer to as “the emir”, said in an interview on LBCI.

Citing security reports, the TV network said Mansour's 20-member group has recently “occupied” the Omar bin Massoud Mosque in Bab al-Tabbaneh and that the militant started “playing a bigger role” in the city with the beginning of the Arsal battle in the Bekaa in early August.

Mansour and his group have however denied “occupying” the mosque, noting that they are present there because they are residents of the neighborhood, LBCI added.

Shadi al-Mawlawi, a fugitive Islamist militant and a member of Mansour's group, also appeared in LBCI's report.

The TV network said the interview was filmed in Bab al-Tabbaneh's al-Ahram area.

“We contributed to the recent release of the five Sunni troops” who had been kidnapped by Nusra during Arsal's battle, Mawlawi told LBCI.

“As for the Rafida (Shiite) troops, they have showed hostility and fought our people in (Syria's) Qusayr and Yabrud and (Sidon's) Abra. We wish they would be killed,” Mawlawi added.

“We honestly wish for their death but we prefer a (prisoner) exchange … because we have people in Roumieh's prison,” Mawlawi went on to say.

The Islamic State group controls thousands of square kilometers of territory in Iraq and Syria. It has also engaged alongside Nusra in deadly clashes with the Lebanese army in Arsal before pulling back to the Syrian side of the border.

IS militants have beheaded two Lebanese soldiers who were taken captive along with several others from the army and security forces.

The militants are reportedly seeking the release of Islamist prisoners from Lebanon's Roumieh prison in return for the rest of the troops they have in their custody.

Y.R.