General Security Arrests 3 Tasked with Plotting 'Bomb and Ramming Attacks'

The General Directorate of General Security on Wednesday announced the arrest of three people who were tasked by a Syria-based terrorist group to scout possible targets for “bomb and vehicle-ramming attacks” in Lebanon.

In a statement, General Security said “Lebanese national M. Kh., his Lebanese wife H. H. and Palestinian refugee M. M. were arrested for belonging to a terrorist group, communicating with senior officials in it, and attempting to leave for Syria to join its ranks.”

“During interrogation, they confessed to the charges, admitting that they belong to a terrorist group and that Palestinian refugee M. M. had recruited the aforementioned couple on behalf of the group,” the statement added.

The Lebanese couple “traveled to Turkey with the aim of entering Syria to join the wife's relatives who fight alongside the terrorist group, but their attempt failed after they were arrested by Turkish authorities and sent back to Lebanon,” the statement said.

After arriving in Lebanon, Lebanese national M. Kh. communicated with his Syria-based brother-in-law A. H. who linked him to one of the group's security handlers, General Security added.

The handler tasked him with “collecting information and identifying figures or gatherings for possible bomb attacks, suicide operations or vehicle-ramming attacks that can be labeled as 'quick forays',” the statement said.

He was also trained on communicating via “highly complicated encrypted messages which were deciphered by the specialized technical departments of the General Directorate of General Security.”

“After interrogation, they were referred to the relevant judicial authorities and efforts are underway to arrest the rest of the culprits,” the statement added.

A week ago, al-Akhbar newspaper said General Security arrested in the Choueifat area a Syrian young man suspected of plotting to carry out an act of terror.

“The detainee was working as a delivery boy for one of the restaurants and he was plotting to prepare an explosive device,” al-Akhbar reported.

And earlier this month, General Security announced the arrest of two Islamic State-linked men suspected of planning a suicide attack in central Beirut.

Those arrests came two weeks after an attempted suicide attack at Hamra's Costa cafe that was foiled in its final minutes.

Lebanon's security services claim to have prevented several attacks in recent months.

The country has been hit by several suicide bombings linked to jihadist groups fighting in neighboring Syria since war broke out there in 2011.

Some of the most deadly attacks took place in strongholds of Hizbullah, which is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces.

The last attack carried out in Lebanon was in November 2015.

In June 2016, the army said it had arrested IS fighters who were preparing attacks against various parts of the Lebanese capital.