Lebanon Army arrests 24 in nationwide crackdown

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army arrested 24 suspects including three Syrians with alleged links to terrorist groups and four gunmen over their involvement in last month’s clashes in Tripoli, part of the military’s nationwide crackdown on terror suspects.

Security sources told The Daily Star that Army intelligence personnel arrested Ahmad al-Abboud and Tareq Al-Makkiyeh in the Zahereya neighborhood of the northern city of Tripoli.

Another Army intelligence unit arrested Alaa al-Mall and another suspect in the Al-Khannaq area in Tripoli.

The men are suspected of involvement in the October clashes between Lebanese troops and militants in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city. Eleven soldiers, eight civilians and at least 23 gunmen were killed in the fighting, in which the Army succeeded in driving the militants out of Tripoli.

Earlier in the day, the Lebanese Army said in a statement that it arrested three Syrians suspected of belonging to terrorist groups and 13 other Syrians for entering the country illegally.

The arrests came during an Army raid on several locations in the Masnaa area, which also includes an official border crossing between Lebanon and Syria.

Soldiers also arrested Thursday morning in the Mhammara village of Akkar four Lebanese for shooting at Army personnel, according to an Army statement. One of the men was in possession of a rifle, a hand grenade along with ammunition and military gear.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's military prosecutor charged 17 Syrian militant suspects, including 12 already in custody, with involvement in the August clashes against the Army and for belonging to ISIS and the Nusra Front, a judicial source said.

Judge Saqr Saqr charged the 17 with engaging in armed clashes with soldiers in August in the northeastern town of Arsal, where gunmen from the Nusra Front and ISIS attempted to overrun the region.

Five suspects remain at large.

The suspects were detained in Arsal during Army raids on Syrian refugee gatherings in the region following the clashes.