Abu al-Hoda Unveils His Plot: Creating 'Emirate' in Dinniyeh and Linking Qalamun to Lebanon Coast

A dangerous militant recently arrested by the army has confessed that he had been plotting to establish an “Islamic emirate” straddling four towns in the northern district of Dinniyeh as part of a broader scheme to connect Syria's Qalamun to the Lebanese coast.

Ahmed Miqati, aka Abu al-Hoda and Abu Bakr, told interrogators that he was making plans to “occupy the towns of Bakhoun, Asoun, Sir al-Dinniyeh and Bqaa Safrine, given that security there is loose,” state-run National News Agency reported.

The objective was to “prepare for declaring it a safe zone, raising the flags of the ISIL (Islamic State) over it, and pledging allegiance to (IS chief) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” Miqati added, according to NNA.

That would have turned the four towns into “a safe haven for the fighters and those who rebel against tyranny in addition to the soldiers who defect from the (Lebanese) army,” the militant said.

The move was supposed to be accompanied by “security acts in the city of Tripoli and its surroundings, which would have facilitated its implementation,” Miqati added.

“The first phase of the broader scheme would have connected Syria's Qalamun to the Lebanese coast,” the militant told interrogators, according to NNA.

Miqati was arrested at dawn Thursday in the Dinniyeh town of Asoun during a deadly army raid on an apartment that he and several militants had been residing in for several days. Three gunmen were killed in the operation, including defected soldier Abdul Qader Akkoumi.

The confessions come in the wake of fierce clashes that erupted in Tripoli's old souks Friday over a false rumor alleging that Miqati had died during interrogation.

The clashes spread to the Tripoli neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, where a group loyal to Shadi al-Mawlawi and Osama Mansour was entrenched, and to the nearby region of Akkar where Sheikh Khaled Hoblos led an armed assault against the army.

In his confessions, Miqati said Mawlawi and Mansour had been aware of his plot, “whose implementation was supposed to begin around a month from now.”

Miqati had ties to “Sheikh Kamal al-Bustani, Sheikh Khaled Hoblos, Sheikh Tareq Khayyat and Roumieh prison inmates Fayez Othman and Ghassan al-Slaibi,” NNA said.

He also confessed to having “wide experience in the field of manufacturing bombs,” noting that he was planning to create explosive devices to use them in his scheme.

“He tried one of his bombs around a year ago in the Zgharta region,” NNA added.

Y.R.