Naharnet

Report: French-Arab Arrested during Hamra Raid

Investigations are ongoing with three of the suspects arrested during a security raid in the Hamra neighborhood in Beirut on Friday, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Sunday.

It said that one of the suspects is French national with Arab origins.

He is believed to have played a central role in a terrorist network, the name of which was not revealed.

It also remains to be seen whether this network is behind Friday's Dahr al-Bydar bombing.

The investigations have so far discovered the network and that the French-Arab is its leader.

Al-Mustaqbal reported that contacts are ongoing between Lebanese and French authorities for further details on his identity.

Later on Sunday, LBCI television reported that the French national is 30 years old and that he confessed during interrogation to plotting "a terrorist act against a certain Lebanese region."

It revealed that the two other suspects were freed after being cleared of any charges.

The Hamra area in Beirut was the scene of a major crackdown over a suspected terror plot on Friday, with security forces interrogating 102 people at two hotels, among whom only the French national remains in custody.

Also on Friday, a suicide car bombing rocked an Internal Security Forces checkpoint in the Bekaa area of Dahr al-Baydar, killing an ISF member and wounding over 30 people.

The blast went off only 200 meters away from the convoy of General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim but it is still unclear if he was the target of the attack.

M.T./Y.R.


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