Naharnet

Report: ISIL Selling Oil to Finance Terrorist Operations, Army, Security Forces Main Targets in Lebanon

Interrogation with the detained would-be suicide bomber Abdul Rahman al-Shenifi revealed that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is selling oil to finance its terrorist operations, LBCI television reported on Saturday.

“Al-Shenifi revealed that ISIL is selling oil in Syria and Iraq and through this activity has managed to have cash money,” LBCI said.

The would-be bomber also told his interrogators that a Syrian man informed him and his partners in the Turkish city of Istanbul that their mission was to attack security forces and army troops in Lebanon, according to the same source.

But later, al-Monzer al-Hasan, the man who provided the Duroy Hotel bombers with explosives, asked the suicide bombers to change their target and instead attack al-Saha restaurant in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

"Three people went to the restaurant to inspect it and to explore the entrances leading to it,” LBCI added.

Meanwhile, the television channel also revealed that the brother of Duroy suicide bomber Ahmed Abdul Rahman al-Thwaini was recently arrested by the General Security for suspecting that he is a terrorist. He was later released, however.

On Wednesday, a Saudi suicide bomber detonated his explosives at his room in the Duroy Hotel in the Beirut neighborhood of Raouche during a raid by General Security officers.

LBCI reported on Friday that the suicide bomber and his accomplice, who are both Saudis, arrived to Lebanon from Istanbul where they had spent five days.

The TV network said investigations have highlighted a “key role” for al-Hasan in several suicide bombings.

They said al-Hasan receives $50,000 for facilitating the mission of every suicide bomber.

Al-Hasan's picture was circulated by the General Security agency on Thursday.

Wednesday's suicide attack was the third in Lebanon in less than a week and sparked fears of renewed violence in a country that has been deeply affected by the civil war in neighboring Syria.

S.D.B.


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