Army Confirms Arrest of 5 Syrians in Nabatiyeh Attack Plot

The Army command confirmed on Saturday reports that the military arrested five Syrians in the southern town of Nabatiyeh after seizing explosives and ammunition from them.

“As part of security measures taken by military units throughout Lebanese territories and after receiving information about some people carrying out a suspicious security activity in a housing area in the city of Nabatiyeh, a patrol raided the area and arrested” the five Syrians, the army command said in a communique.

It identified the men as Khodr Mohammed al-Fnoush, Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Fattah, Ahmed Mohammed al-Fnoush, Hussein Farhan al-Fattah and Wael Hussein al-Hassan.

The Army patrol seized explosives, mortar ammunition with Hebrew letters, in addition to a detonator, the communique said.

The Army issued its statement a day after the state-run National News Agency and other media reports said the five men were arrested in the Nabatiyeh neighborhood of al-Maslakh as they were planning to detonate the explosives during the Muharram (Ashoura) 9 procession planned in Nabatiyeh on Saturday.

The last day of Ashoura, Muharram 10 in the Islamic lunar calendar, marks the climax of mourning for the death of reverred Imam Hussein bin Ali -- the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed – at the hands of the army of the caliph Yazid during the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD.