Security officials in Lebanon have claimed that they have arrested the Al-Qaeda leader in Lebanon along with several other suspects. The Lebanese interior minister told newsmen in Beirut that security officials have arrested Ismail Mohammad Al-Khateeb, the al-Qaeda network chief in Lebanon along with several other suspected persons after raids in the western area. Lebanon has announced their first arrests for suspected links with al-Qaeda .
| More fallout from the diplo activity, I'd guess? |
Meanwhile, Lebanon said on Wednesday it had foiled a plan by militant Islamists with links to al-Qaeda to blow up Italy's embassy in Beirut, other diplomatic missions and Lebanese government targets. Interior Minister Elias al-Murr said Lebanese and Syrian security forces acting on a tip that Rome sent last Friday had arrested 10 people in the plot, which he said involved simultaneous attacks on the various targets. The attacks were to include a suicide car bombing of the Italian embassy in downtown Beirut, as well as strikes on the Ukrainian consulate and several Lebanese court and security buildings, he said. Lebanese officials identified two ringleaders among the suspects: Ahmad Miqati, a Lebanese member of an Islamist group that staged a bloody uprising in north Lebanon in 2000, and Ismail Khatib, described as an operative of al Qaeda.
| The Dinnieh group's known to be tied to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It was an attempt at a Lebanese version of Jund al-Islam... |
The Interior Ministry said the arrest of Miqati - a fugitive in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp,
| ... That'd be Ein el-Hellhole... |
where numerous Islamist factions are active - had led to the arrests of the others. Lebanon's public prosecutor said there appeared to be ties between the groups led by Miqati and Khatib. "There are connections of belief among the same people about forming a unit of al-Qaeda," prosecutor Adnan Addoum told reporters. "Just by Ahmad Miqati knowing about this subject and talking about it means that there is coordination and exchange of information ... There is overlap between the two groups."
Arms Cache Found: Addoum also said the arrests had led to the discovery of a buried cache of weapons. The ministry said the plotters had got funding through contacts in Europe, and Murr said those ties also extended to militants elsewhere in the Middle East. "In questioning it became clear that these networks have links with terrorist networks in ... Italy, Ukraine, Denmark, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Sudan," he told reporters. Murr said other planned attacks included the killing of employees at embassies in Lebanon.
Like its dominant neighbour Syria, Lebanon faces US pressure over Hizbollah guerrillas Washington describes as terrorists. It has said it has cracked a ring behind bombings of Western fast-food restaurants. The suspected plotters had also been involved in recruiting people to fight in Iraq on behalf of al-Qaeda, Murr said. |