Bomb-Laden Cars 'Destined for Lebanon' Destroyed in Qalamun
The Syrian army has bombed and destroyed explosive-rigged vehicles that were “destined for Lebanese territory” as part of a plot aimed at waging simultaneous attacks on “civilian and military places,” a media report said on Wednesday.
A car carrying a license plate of the U.S. state of New Jersey appears in the TV report, which was filmed in an unspecified location in the countryside of the Syrian Qalamun border region and broadcast by Hizbullah's al-Manar television.
The vehicle was shown next to other booby-trapped cars carrying Lebanese license plates as well as a Syrian firefighting vehicle.
The video then features a cave “in which the gunmen had stayed” and booklets carrying the slogans of the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front as well as shells and boxes of ammunition.
Makeshift roads were carved out in order to send these cars towards the Lebanese border town of Brital, a Hizbullah stronghold, al-Manar said.
The TV network's report shows a destroyed personnel carrier which the narrator says was booby-trapped.
Quoting military sources, al-Manar said the “major” plot had been “targeted against the Lebanese arena” and that “several vehicles were supposed to be used in simultaneous attacks.”
“The first car would target an army or a police checkpoint, clearing the way for the other vehicles to proceed until the final destination is reached,” the TV network added.
It said the alleged plot involved blowing up “Lebanese civilian and military places in a simultaneous manner.”
Had the scheme succeeded, the results would have been “disastrous,” al-Manar added.
It is not the first time that the Syrian army and Hizbullah destroy workshops used to booby-trap cars destined for Lebanon, according to media reports.
Last week, the allied forces shelled a vehicle rigging factory in the Lebanese border town of Tufail which overlaps Syria, destructing five bomb-laden cars at what was described as “the biggest” factory for booby-trapping vehicles in the border region.
Hizbullah has been taking part in the Syrian war for more than a year now. Following deadly bombings that rocked its bastions in Dahieh and Bekaa, the party carried out several commando operations in Qalamun and managed to kill several militants involved in perpetrating suicide car bombings against Lebanese regions.
Y.R.
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