Arrest Warrant Issued against Suspect in Ballouneh Rockets Case

An arrest warrant was issued on Thursday against a suspect over his firing of rockets in the Baabda region on August 1, reported the National News Agency.

Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawwan issued an arrest warrant against Jamal Ismail after he was interrogated in the Ballouneh rockets case.

Ismail is the father of two Syrian suspects already detained in the case.

On Monday, Sawwan had interrogated Syrian suspects as Mohammed Abdul Jabbar Abdul Karim al-Debs, aka Abi Osama, Mohammed Ismail, Ammar Ismail, Mohammed al-Mdawwar and "Hisham." It identified the Lebanese detainees as Mohammed al-Takwir and Bassam al-Kaaki.

The agency said Debs confessed to "firing the rockets from Ballouneh and four rockets from Aramoun and disclosed all the details of the operations."

The judge issued arrest warrants for the seven suspects on terror- and weapon-related charges.

On August 30, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the detention of suspects allegedly involved in the cases of firing rockets from Ballouneh on Baabda and from the South towards Israel.

Media reports had said that the suspected intended to target the Defense Ministry in Yarze. But one rocket hit a high-voltage power line in a nearby town and a second rocket failed to launch. The launchpads were found in Ballouneh.

On August 1, two rockets fired from an area near the town of Aramoun in Aley struck locations near the presidential palace and the Defense Ministry in Baabda.