General Security Arrests 3-Member Terrorist Cell

General Security has arrested three Syrians on suspicion of recruiting fighters and monitoring the activities of the Hizbullah-linked Resistance Brigades.

As Safir daily said Tuesday that Abu Khattab, one of the group's members, is a resident of the town of Shehim in Iqlim al-Kharroub. He left Lebanon through the Arida border crossing in December 2012, heading to the Syrian city of Aleppo where he joined al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.

He later returned to Lebanon through an illegal crossing in northeastern Lebanon to recruit fighters and monitor the movement of Resistance Brigades members.

The suspect used his Facebook account to stay in touch with some al-Nusra Front leaders in Syria and to send them information about the Resistance Brigades in the area of Iqlim al-Kharroub, mainly the town of Shehim.

He also sent them detailed maps on how to reach certain targets by planting roadside bombs or booby-trapping cars.

According to As Safir, Abu Khattab told the military judiciary that fugitive Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir had sleeper cells in the southern city of Sidon and Iqlim al-Kharroub.

The cells aim at targeting Hizbullah and its members, he said.

But his brother, the second member of the group, denied in his testimony that he had carried out any security act in Lebanon.

The third suspect, also a resident of Shehim, admitted to having ties with Abu Khattab, saying he had been injured while fighting alongside al-Nusra Front in Aleppo.

He said a Syrian man gave him a fake passport but was arrested by General Security while he was trying to travel to Turkey by sea on his way to Syria.

The three suspects are currently under investigation by the military prosecution.

General Security confirmed As Safir's report, saying in a terse communique that it arrested three Syrians for “belonging to the terrorist al-Nusra Front and monitoring some personalities and party members to commit assassinations and bombings in Lebanon.”

It did not specify where the arrests took place.

The communique said that General Security also apprehended a Lebanese member of the Islamic State extremist group for monitoring the movement of Lebanese soldiers and security forces.

G.K.

D.A.