Security Forces Determined to Detain Mawlawi, Mansour after Locating their Whereabouts

Security forces located the whereabouts of notorious Tripoli militants Shadi al-Mawlawi and Osama Mansour, media reports said on Monday.

According to the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, security forces are determined to detain the two fugitives, who took the Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood of the northern city of Tripoli as their hideout.

The report said that security apparatuses will reactivate a security plan previously implemented in the northern city.

Sources told al-Hayat that Mansour and al-Mawlawi head an armed group in Bab al-Tabbaneh.

The armed group, according to the sources, is comprised of sympathizers that have previously engaged in battles in neighboring Syria along with the armed groups.

The sources pointed out that the two fugitives are constantly inciting against the Lebanese army and the Internal Security Forces on claims of oppressing Sunnis who cannot defend themselves against Hizbullah.

They are also inciting against the city's lawmakers and ministers for “abandoning them.”

The newspaper said that around 30 to 40 gunmen deploy nightly at the entrances of Bab al-Tabbaneh, fearing that security forces could surprise them with raids.

On Thursday, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged a detainee and 10 fugitives, including al-Mawlawi and Mansour, with “belonging to an armed terrorist group in order to stage terrorist acts, and holing up at a Tripoli mosque with the aim of preparing bombs and explosive devices to target Lebanese army troops in the area.”

The eleven were referred to First Military Examining Magistrate Riad Abu Ghida.

Military Examining Magistrate Nabil Wehbe also issued an indictment in the case of the August 3 bomb explosion that killed Tripoli resident Issam al-Shaar in the al-Jinan area.

Mawlawi and Mansour were also among those charged in the case.

On September 12, Mansour, who leads an Islamist militia in Bab al-Tabbaneh, denied reports that his group had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State or al-Nusra Front.

The 27-year-old militant had been wanted on dozens of arrest warrants and was recently apprehended in the Bekaa before being eventually released.

Mansour's 20-member group had recently “occupied” the Omar bin Massoud Mosque in Bab al-Tabbaneh and that he 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.

H.K.

M.T.