Lebanese security forces bust Daesh terrorist network during New Year holidays

Lebanese security forces have arrested a group of people affiliated with the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in neighboring Syria, who planned to carry out a series of deadly attacks in Lebanon.

“As a result of intensive efforts made by the General Security Directorate in various Lebanese regions during New Year holidays to guarantee public security, government forces have managed to disband a cell linked to [the] Daesh terrorist group,” the Army Command Center said in a statement.

It added that the Daesh sleeper cell consisted of four Syrian nationals, who were operating in Mount Lebanon and North provinces.

“They were in direct contact with leaders from the terrorist group. The four Syrians were sent to judicial bodies for investigations and further legal procedures,” the statement pointed out.

On November 17, 2018, Lebanese security forces arrested a group of Syrians that had formed a network to conduct terror missions.

“They were tasked with monitoring [the] Lebanese Army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) centers in southern Lebanon in order to collect information on military personnel and equipment … and their methods of operation,” Lebanon’s General Security Directorate said in a statement at the time.

The statement added that the detainees had taken pictures of sensitive facilities, and sent them to Daesh terrorists in Syria’s northern city of Raqqah as well as the eastern town of al-Bukamal on the border with Iraq.

Lebanon has often seen the infiltration of Takfiri elements from neighboring Syria into its territory, where they target the civilian population or security forces with bombings.

In August 2014, members of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham – formerly known as Nusra Front – and Daesh terrorist groups overran the town of Arsal, located 124 kilometers northeast of Beirut, killing a number of Lebanese forces. They took 30 soldiers hostage, most of whom have been released.

Since then, Hezbollah resistance fighters and Lebanese military forces have been defending Lebanon on the country’s northeastern frontier against foreign-backed terrorist groups from Syria.

Hezbollah fighters have fended off several Daesh attacks inside Lebanon. They have also been providing assistance to Syrian army forces to counter the ongoing foreign-sponsored militancy.

The movement has accused Israel of supporting Takfiri terrorists operating in the Middle East.

Israel, which continues to occupy Lebanon’s Sheba’a Farms and Syria’s Golan Heights, is widely reported to be offering medical help to Takfiri terrorists injured in Syria.

In December 2015, British newspaper the Daily Mail said Israel had saved the lives of more than 2,000 Takfiri militants since 2013.