Naharnet

Report: Security Measures Intensified during Holiday Period over Terror Concerns

Security measures throughout Lebanon will be intensified during the Christmas and New Year holiday period, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

A widely-informed source told the daily: “This is a critical stage and security measures will be bolstered in all Lebanese regions without exception.”

Heightened security will be introduced in light of information received by security agencies that terrorist groups may carry out an attack over the holidays.

The concerns were exacerbated with the arrest of Saja al-Dulaimi, a divorcee of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Al-Dulaimi was arrested at a checkpoint on al-Madfoun Bridge in the North, along with her husband Palestinian Khalaf and her daughter Hajar, 8. The arrest took place in November and was kept a secret until the media made it public.

She is reportedly detained over her links to Baghdadi, for communicating with terrorist organizations on Lebanese territories and holding fake identification papers.

Ola al-Oqaili, the wife of Anas Sharkas, aka Abu Ali al-Shishani, was arrested two months after extensive surveillance.

Their arrests sparked tensions between the Lebanese state and the Islamist kidnappers of a number of Lebanese servicemen.

In retaliation to the arrest, al-Shishani threatened to start kidnapping the wives and children of soldiers until the Lebanese authorities release his spouse and two children, announcing the suspension of negotiations in the case of the abducted servicemen.

The soldiers and policemen were abducted when militants from the two groups briefly overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in August.

The fighters withdrew after a truce negotiated by clerics, but took with them 30 hostages, four of whom have been executed.

M.T.

D.A.

Source: Naharnet


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