Report: Army Detains Palestinian Plotting 'Terrorist' Act in Sidon

The Lebanese army intelligence detained a Palestinian national suspected of belonging to an extremist group plotting to carry out a “terrorist act” in the southern portal city of Sidon.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Monday, Mohammed A. H. was arrested while he was entering Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.

The Palestinian is a supporter of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and he was said to be killed in battles in the Syrian town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border.

The suspect was detained over “links to an extremist plotting to carry out a terrorist act in Sidon to create a sectarian strife,” security sources told the newspaper.

The sources pointed out that “the group is recruiting several men to carry out the scheme.”

Asir, the imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, announced in April the creation of the “Free Resistance Brigades,” urging whoever is capable of heading to Syria to go there to aid “the oppressed” in Qusayr and Homs.

Asir's announcement was to protest Hizbullah's involvement in the neighboring country Syria.

Hizbullah fighters spearheaded a devastating 17-day assault on the Syrian town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border which culminated last week with its recapture from the rebels.

Although Lebanon has officially adopted a position of neutrality in Syria's war, its people are sharply divided with Hizbullah and its allies backing President Bashar Assad's regime and the March 14 coalition supports the rebellion.

Syria's civil war has exacerbated sectarian tensions in Lebanon and its security situation has deteriorated due to various groups intervention in battles in the neighboring country.

Analysts recently warned that the foray into Syria's civil war by Hizbullah has fueled a Sunni-Shiite polarization that threatens to feed extremism on both sides and export the conflict to the wider region.