Man Accused of Attacking Karami Convoy Handed Over to ISF after Being Released from Hospital

Mohammed Youssef, a man under arrest for allegedly being involved in the shooting at Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karami's convoy, was handed over to the security forces on Saturday after he had been shortly released by gunmen from the Islamic Hospital in the northern city of Tripoli, LBCI television reported.

Earlier on Saturday, an armed group stormed the northern hospital and released Youssef by force, LBCI said.

The National News Agency elaborated: “The masked men came in two separate cars and threatened people present at the hospital with guns”.

“They striped the security forces guarding Youssef's room of their weapons and rushed out with the detained man,” it detailed.

OTV added: “The attackers headed towards (the northern region of) Bab al-Tabbaneh”.

Minister Karami told radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) that the gunmen “invaded the hospital, frightened everyone present there and attacked the policemen”.

He remarked: “They fired gunshots into the air after releasing Youssef”.

A car part of Karami's convoy was engulfed in flames in January following a grenade attack in Azmi street in Tripoli.

Karami had stated that the convoy was passing in the area when several cars came under gunfire

He told LBCI that “five of the bodyguards were injured.”