Nawwaf Hussein's Questioning 'Proves Involvement' in Transferring Car Bombs

Preliminary investigations conducted by the army's intelligence directorate under the military judiciary's supervision have proved the involvement of the suspect Nawwaf al-Hussein in bombings that have hit areas considered sympathetic to Hizbullah, a media report said on Monday.

“Several days after the arrest of Nawwaf al-Hussein in the Bekaa town of Jlala, sources following up on the probe revealed that preliminary investigations have proved Hussein's involvement in the transfer of booby-trapped cars that were used in bombings,” LBCI television reported.

Hussein was arrested on Saturday after detained cleric Sheikh Omar al-Atrash reportedly confessed to having links with him.

Army intelligence agents are “continuing their investigations to unveil other details and identify the individuals with which Hussein used to deal and to whom he was delivering the cars … in addition to the hierarchy of his group,” LBCI said on Monday.

Meanwhile, al-Manar television said Hussein confessed to transferring bomb-laden cars, “including the two cars that exploded in Haret Hreik.”

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr has charged al-Atrash and five others in connection with two suicide bombings in the Beirut southern suburb of Haret Hreik last month that killed at least six people.

Lebanon has been rocked by a string of bomb attacks in recent months, with three in January alone.

Many have targeted strongholds of Hizbullah, which has drawn the ire of Sunni extremist groups in part because of its role fighting alongside the regime in Syria.

Atrash, who was detained on January 22, admitted ties to three wanted individuals, as well as to the al-Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Nusra Front, the Lebanese Army said at the time.

Atrash "confessed to transporting car bombs to Beirut" after receiving them from a Syrian person, as well as "transporting suicide bombers of different Arab nationalities into Syria and handing them over to the al-Nusra Front," the army said.

He also admitted transporting two suicide bombers who were killed in the southern city of Sidon in a gunfight with the army in December.