Ahmed Miqati, 17 Others Charged with Terrorism, 'Islamic Emirate' Plot

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr on Thursday filed terror charges against the dangerous detainee Ahmed Miqati and 17 others.

"The military judiciary has received the terrorist detainee Ahmed Salim Miqati, 46, who is one of the top cadres of the ISIL (Islamic State) group and goes by the noms de guerre Abu Bakr and Abu al-Hoda," state-run National News Agency reported.

Miqati, the prisoner Fayez Othman, the detainee Ahmed al-Ahmed and 15 fugitives were charged with "belonging to a terrorist group with the aim of carrying out terror acts."

The charges also included "the formation of armed groups, recruiting individuals, training on the use of arms and explosives, and plotting to occupy the Dinniyeh region villages of Asoun, Bakhoun, Bqaa Safrine and Sir al-Dinniyeh with the aim of creating an IS emirate."

Miqati was also accused of “taking part in operations against the army, inciting the murder of its troops, stirring sectarian strife and possessing arms and explosives.”

NNA noted that some of the charges are punishable by death.

Miqati was referred to First Military Examining Magistrate Riad Abu Ghida, the agency said.

On Monday, NNA said the dangerous militant 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.

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.

His confessions came 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.

Y.R.

M.T.