Army Says 'Secret' Investigations Ongoing over Arrest of Terrorist, Denies Media Reports
The Lebanese Army denied on Friday media reports concerning the circumstances that surrounded the arrest of a “terrorist,” stressing that investigation are ongoing in a “disclosed manner.”
“Secret investigations are ongoing and we are not responsible for any information published regarding the matter,” the army said in a communique.
Media reports had said that the “emir” of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which claimed it carried out a deadly November 19 double suicide bombing at Iran's Beirut embassy that killed 25 people, was detained by the army intelligence.
The statement said that any alleged reports published in TV stations and newspapers, including al-Akhbar, An Nahar, As Safir and al-Liwaa are fabricated.
“We will hold on to our right to file a lawsuit against any media outlet and any source publishing fabricated and false news concerning the military institutions and its tasks,” the statement added.
The group was formed in 2009 and is believed to have branches in both the Arabian Peninsula and Lebanon.
It has sporadically fired rockets into northern Israel, and the Brigades also claimed responsibility for the 2010 bombing attack of a Japanese oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Islamist sites, al-Majed was revealed to be the leader of the Brigades in 2012.
On Wednesday, a Twitter account belonging to Sirajeddin Zreikat, a member of the Brigades, appeared to have been suspended.
Zreikat had claimed responsibility in the group's name for the Iranian embassy bombing.
That attack came amid rising tension in Lebanon over the role of the Iran-backed Hizbullah in the war in neighboring Syria.
Hizbullah and Iran are allied with the Syrian regime, and it has dispatched fighters to battle the uprising alongside government forces.
In claiming the embassy bombing, Zreikat warned of more attacks in Lebanon if Hizbullah kept sending troops to support Syrian President Bashar Assad.
In 2009, Lebanon sentenced al-Majed in absentia to life in prison for belonging to a different extremist group, the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam.
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