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Lebanon
The al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades called for Hezbollah to withdraw from Syria, dared it to fight in Iraq, and threatened further attacks in Lebanon. Security forces blocked roads to Beirut’s Roumieh prison due to fears that the prison might be attacked. A roadside bomb detonated near an Army patrol in Tripoli. Security forces and Hezbollah are trying to thwart Islamic State plans to conduct further attacks, including suicide bombings, in Lebanon; the group is said to have infiltrated Palestinian refugee camps. The IS-linked Jund al Sham in the Ain al Hilweh camp reportedly has over 200 members. Attempts are…
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Lebanon
The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade, which has claimed several terror attacks in Lebanon, including last week’s suicide blast at the Duroy Hotel in Beirut, pledged its allegiance to the newly named Islamic State and its caliph, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Syrian state media claimed that three explosives-packed cars, including two with Lebanese license plates, were found in the Qalamoun region along the Lebanese border. Two Palestinians were killed and at least four people were wounded in a clash in the Shatila refugee camp in southern Beirut. Medical supplies are running low in the border town of Arsal.
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Al Nusrah Front
Is Lebanon at risk of becoming the next jihadi hub?
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Lebanon
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, which now calls itself the Islamic State, has reportedly appointed Abdul Salam al Ordoni as its emir for Lebanon. Ordoni allegedly has set up a camp near the Turkish-Syrian border to train suicide bombers for attacks in Lebanon, and provided instructions in Istanbul to the ISIS suicide team that was broken up this week in Beirut. Monzer al Hasan, a suspected terrorist who gave suicide belts to the Saudi ISIS bombers, is thought to have left Akkar for rebel-held areas in Syria. In a separate investigation, security forces dismantled three other suicide…
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Iraq
Allawi: US policy toward Iraq ‘without a compass’
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Iraq
Report: ISIS Selling Oil to Finance Terrorist Operations; Army, Security Forces Main Targets in Lebanon
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Iraq
ISIS fears in Lebanon on the rise
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Lebanon
After interrogating two suspected terrorists arrested in Akkar, security forces raided a cave on the outskirts of Fnaydeq in north Lebanon that was being used as a bomb-making workshop, and also seized weapons and ammunition from a residence in the village. Security forces are still looking for suicide bombers and two explosives-packed vehicles. Shiite organizations cancelled public iftars during Ramadan due to security fears. A detained member of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide bomb team said he and a Saudi accomplice had spent five days in Istanbul prior to entering Lebanon, and that a Syrian man…
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Iraq
Obama Administration Deepens US Role in Syria and Iraq
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Lebanon
The military prosecutor charged 15 terror suspects, including the head of the Lebanese branch of al Qaeda, Toufik Tah; Abdullah Azzam Brigades’ religious guide Sirajeddine Zuraiqat; and Raed Taleb. The suspects are accused of membership in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, taking terror training in Syria and in the Ain al Hilweh camp, working with Jund al Sham in north Lebanon, and planning assassinations and bombings. A Saudi member of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham suicide bombing team blew himself up in a Beirut hotel yesterday as security forces stormed the room, injuring another Saudi suspect; a third…
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Lebanon
Sirajeddine Zureiqat, a fugitive Lebanese cleric and spokesman for the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, warned that Sunnis in Syria and Lebanon are aiming to strike Hezbollah, and threatened more attacks such as the recent bombings in southern Beirut. Lebanese authorities deported a Frenchman who was on his way to carry out a suicide bombing in Syria for an al Qaeda-linked group; authorities also questioned a French citizen from the Comoros Islands arrested on June 20, who confessed to being recruited by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham for a suicide bombing.
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Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham
ISIS Surge in Iraq Fans Regional Fears Including Lebanon
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Lebanon
A suicide car bombing outside a cafe by a military checkpoint in Beirut wounded 12 people. One report said the bomber was a female who tried to cross the checkpoint but detonated when troops became suspicious of her behavior. Authorities had been looking for two suicide bombers and an explosives-laden truck before the attack. Security forces said the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham is threatening Lebanon, and noted the recent discovery of a plan to bomb multiple targets in an effort to ignite a Sunni-Shiite conflict in the country. Authorities interrogated a French terror suspect and repatriated a…
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Lebanon
Military intelligence arrested three Syrians and two Lebanese at the Harbata-Labweh checkpoint in the Baalbek region on suspicion of plotting a terrorist act; the five men were reportedly on their way to the Arsal hills with aid for Syrian opposition forces. One of them, Omar al-Satem, was said to be a wanted fugitive; his family disputed the report. Also in Arsal, a man abducted on May 27 by the Al Nusrah Front was released; and a grenade exploded in the hands of a Syrian man, killing him. The bomber in the June 20 attack in Dahr al-Baydar is said to…
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Lebanon
Security forces were on high alert over rumors that the Abdullah Azzam Brigades is planning suicide car bomb attacks in Lebanon. Several foreigners lacking proper identification were detained at Beirut’s weekend market, and 26 wanted individuals were arrested yesterday in Majdalya. Authorities released 13 of 17 suspected terrorists arrested yesterday in Beirut. Yesterday’s botched suicide bombing at a Bekaa valley checkpoint was claimed by the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade, which vowed to keep trying to attack its target.
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Iraq
Three reasons Lebanon fears ISIS advance
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Lebanon
A suicide bomber killed two people and wounded at least 20 others when he was stopped at a checkpoint in the Dahr al-Baidar area of the Bekaa valley. The blast came within 200 feet of the convoy of General Security head Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who was unharmed. A Mossad report published today claimed that the Abdullah Azzam Brigades was plotting to assassinate a senior Lebanese security official such as Gen. Ibrahim. Security forces arrested 17 men in Beirut thought to be part of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham plot to assassinate Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri there.…
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Lebanon
Uncontrolled arms plague Lebanese communities despite security crackdown
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Lebanon
The Army is stepping up patrols along the Syrian border to prevent spillover from the growing conflict in Syria and Iraq. The National Islamic Gathering in Lebanon issued a statement yesterday praising the current conflict in Iraq as a “revolution of the oppressed” and denounced Nouri al Maliki as “the prime minister of Tehran in Baghdad.”
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Lebanon
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah credited Hezbollah’s role in Syria with keeping the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham out of Beirut. Hezbollah forces discovered a tunnel between Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. At an international conference in Rome, 40 countries pledged logistical support to strengthen the Lebanese Army in its fight against terrorism, but none offered funding or weapons. The Army as well as Hezbollah members deployed to the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh after reports that a terrorist group was planning to attack two hospitals there.
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Lebanon
A Saudi news outlet claimed that Hezbollah is sending more fighters into Syria as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham continues its offensive in Iraq. Gunmen from Syria crossed over into Arsal but fled back across the border when Lebanese forces fired at them. Firefighters in Akkar stopped a blaze from reaching a gas firm. Masked Fatah gunmen guarded entrances to the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp.
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Lebanon
Shelling by the Syrian Army and Hezbollah reportedly wounded many people in the Bekaa valley village of Tfeil, which sits close to Qalamoun across the border in Syria. Security was stepped up following reports that Abdullah Azzam Brigades sleeper cells are planning attacks in Lebanon.
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Lebanon
Security forces arrested six suspected Syrian terrorists in raids near Arsal, including Zaher Abdel-Aziz Ahmad, thought to be a member of the al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades. Lebanese leaders are anxious to resolve the governmental deadlock and improve Lebanese security in the wake of the worsening situation in Iraq.
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Lebanon
The Al Nusrah Front attacked a Syrian refugee camp in Arsal, killing one Syrian man, injuring another, and kidnapping two more. A military judge is seeking the death penalty for 31 suspected members of the al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades.
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Fatah
The fight against fundamentalist recruitment of Palestinian youth in Ain al-Hilweh
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Lebanon
The Army arrested four wanted suspects in southern Beirut and confiscated military gear and ammunition in their possession; and arrested four men in Hermel after a shootout, seizing rifles, pistols, and RPGs from them. The Army said it had detained 900 people in May, of varying nationalities. A Lebanese media report claimed that the two Syrian bishops missing since April 2013 were kidnapped by the al Qaeda-linked group Asbat al Ansar and then handed over to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham in the Syrian province of Raqqah, where they are allegedly now being held.
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Lebanon
Syrian gunmen from the Al Nusrah Front killed Khaled al-Mustafa, a Syrian, in Arsal; Al Nusrah members also reportedly kidnapped and killed a 14-year-old Syrian youth in Arsal. It is not clear if there were two murder victims or one. The Army detained 22 people in Tripoli for firing guns in the air to celebrate President Assad’s reelection in Syria.
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Lebanon
The Al Nusrah Front detained and tortured three youths in Arsal after accusing them of stealing a motorbike; all three were hospitalized with broken limbs. The military cordoned off an area near a Syrian refugee camp in Akkar after grenades were found. The World Bank has estimated that the Syrian conflict has cost Lebanon over $7.5 billion as it struggles to cope with an influx of over a million refugees. A religious official with the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam criticized death sentences for Sunnis imprisoned in Lebanon and said the group seeks to liberate them.
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Lebanon
The Interior Ministry asked Syrian refugees in Lebanon to refrain from returning to Syria, and said those who do return after June 1 will risk losing their refugee status. Mahmoud Hayek, a Hezbollah official reportedly killed in Syria, was sentenced in absentia to hard labor and life in prison for trying to assassinate Minister Butros Harb in 2013. Two people were injured when an IED detonated in a car in Arsal. Efforts to free seven Lebanese and two Syrian bishops kidnapped by armed groups in Syria are said to be still ongoing.
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Lebanon
Authorities arrested wanted al Qaeda-linked militant Sheikh Omar Bakri Fustoq in Aley, southwest of Beirut, yesterday. Lebanese media reports said that Mahmoud Hayek, a Hezbollah official who was wanted for a 2012 assassination attempt on Minister Butros Harb, was killed while fighting in Syria. Rockets fired from Syria hit in an area between the Bekaa Valley towns of Labweh and Nabi Othman, injuring a Syrian man. Authorities plan to extradite Saudi national Abdullah Ben Mohammad Bishi, a Fatah official convicted for his role in a deadly clash between Lebanese forces and Fatah fighters in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in…
