Reports: Members of Resistance Brigades Attacked al-Jadeed, Planned Assault on Future
The attacker of al-Jadeed TV, who was arrested after setting tires ablaze outside the station’s headquarters, is connected to the Hizbullah-linked Resistance Brigades and was part of a group planning another attack on Future TV station, security sources told several newspapers published Wednesday.
The preliminary investigation revealed that Wissam Alaeddine was tasked with burning tires and then throwing a Molotov cocktail on al-Jadeed headquarters in Beirut’s Wata al-Msaitbe to set it ablaze on Monday night.
But the suspect failed after his pants caught fire and was arrested by members of the Progressive Socialist Party who were in the area and who handed him over to the security forces.
The five other masked men who were with him escaped. But Alaeddine has so far named one of them, identified as Abed Qassem known as Abu Arab.
The head of the group is the Resistance Brigades’ leader in Beirut Mohammed Aknan who reportedly drove the vehicle that transported the men to al-Jadeed, the security sources said.
The assailants were reportedly planning to issue a statement in the name of an unknown Islamic party claiming responsibility for the attack in solidarity with ex-Premier Saad Hariri.
The probe also revealed that three assailants were planning a similar attack on Hariri’s Future TV in the Beirut area of Spears.
According to the sources, a Lebanese army patrol arrested a man carrying a bucket of gasoline, who denied the plot and claimed that he was drugged and planning to set himself on fire.
Hizbullah official in Beirut Abu Ali Kahlouni visited on Tuesday Alaeddine at the Beirut state hospital where he is being detained for treatment of his burn injuries.
Alaeddine reportedly admitted to belonging to the Resistance Brigades and wanted to set al-Jadeed headquarters on fire after the station hosted on Sunday Imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah mosque Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir who launched a scathing attack on AMAL movement and Hizbullah.
Following Alaeddine’s arrest on Monday night, groups of men blocked several roads in Beirut with burning tires.
The security sources said that the road closures were done to prevent the army from reaching the areas where the other attackers on al-Jadeed had taken refuge.
The reports said that Aknan’s same vehicle was used for transporting the men who set tires ablaze in Verdun.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/44714 |