Mawlawi, Mansour Fortify Security Square in Tripoli, Erect Barricades
Barricades and sandbags were reportedly erected anew on Tuesday around a security square established by two notorious Tripoli fugitives Shadi al-Mawlawi and Osama Mansour.
According to Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) the barricades are spread on the main streets separating the rival Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighborhoods in the northern city and between Bab al-Tabbaneh and army posts in Tripoli.
The radio station said that surveillance cameras were set to monitor the security square that includes al-Asmar square, Starco, Tartous street and the vegetables market.
Media reports said on Monday that security forces are determined to arrest al-Mawlawi and Mansour after locating their hideout in the Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.
Last week, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged a detainee and 10 fugitives, including al-Mawlawi and Mansour, with “belonging to an armed terrorist group in order to stage terrorist acts, and holing up at a Tripoli mosque with the aim of preparing bombs and explosive devices to target Lebanese army troops in the area.”
The eleven were referred to First Military Examining Magistrate Riad Abu Ghida.
Military Examining Magistrate Nabil Wehbe also issued an indictment in the case of the August 3 bomb explosion that killed Tripoli resident Issam al-Shaar in the al-Jinan area.
Mawlawi and Mansour were also among those charged in the case.
On September 12, Mansour, who leads an Islamist militia in Bab al-Tabbaneh, denied reports that his group had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State or al-Nusra Front.
The 27-year-old militant had been wanted on dozens of arrest warrants and was recently apprehended in the Bekaa before being eventually released.
Mansour's 20-member group had recently “occupied” the Omar bin Massoud Mosque in Bab al-Tabbaneh and that he started “playing a bigger role” in the city with the beginning of the Arsal battle in the Bekaa in early August.
Mansour and his group have however denied “occupying” the mosque, noting that they are present there because they are residents of the neighborhood.
H.K.
G.K.
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