Lebanese Authorities Thwart Terrorist Plot to Create 'Security Belt'

The authorities have foiled a plot by militants from Syria to create a passage to West Bekaa, the South and the North to establish their planned emirate on Lebanese territories, As Safir daily reported Friday.

The newspaper said that the authorities have intercepted conversations and seized documents from extremist groups that revealed a plot to open the passage to the West Bekaa area through the Majdal Anjar Valley and to the South so that they could reach areas where Palestinian camps are located.

The plot included the establishment of a route to the northern area of Qalamoun.

“This security belt” would have led to a scenario similar to the cross-border raid in the northeastern town of Arsal and a previously thwarted plot to have an emirate in the North, a security official told As Safir.

Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji said in October last year that the militants from Syria want to ignite civil war and create a passage to Lebanon's coastline by linking the Syrian Qalamoun mountains with Arsal on the border and the northern Lebanese town of Akkar.

The militants from al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group already carried out a cross-border raid in Arsal in August and took with them hostages from the army and police following deadly gunbattles with troops.

From there, the militants seek to carry out almost daily incursions into Lebanese territories.

The official said that the armed men are planning to impose a new status-quo in the area by seeking to open all the routs that lead to Arsal.

But the army, which blocked the passageways last year, is carrying out almost daily attacks on the militants to stop them.

On Friday, the army shelled the position of gunmen there as a rocket landed near the town of Kfarzabad from the Syrian side of the border.

The official said that the army and security agencies have taken strong measures in the Bekaa Valley over fears that some sleeper cells and encampments for Syrian refugees in the area would provide military support to the militants.

The concern of the military and security apparatuses grew last week when terrorist groups advanced in the Syrian area of al-Zabadani and occupied a base for the Syrian army.

The seized documents and the intercepted calls showed that the terrorists could link that area with the Lebanese town of Qousaya where the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command has bases.

Their occupation of such territory would help the terrorists gradually expand into several directions in the Bekaa Valley.

G.K.

H.K.