Bomb-Making Material Seized as 1 Lebanese, Many Syrians Held in Nationwide Raids

A quantity of bomb-making material and arms was seized Wednesday and a Lebanese suspect was captured as several Syrians were arrested in raids across the country, as part of a massive crackdown launched in the wake of the Dahieh blasts.

“The Intelligence Bureau managed today to seize 150 kilograms of steel balls and material and tools used in the making of suicide vests,” the Internal Security Forces said in a statement.

It also arrested Lebanese national Kh. Sh., “who has ties to the terrorist network involved in the Bourj al-Barajneh bombings.”

In an earlier statement, the ISF said four Lebanese were arrested and around 180 kilos of explosives and three suicide vests were seized during the raids that were staged Tuesday in the Tripoli districts of al-Dam wal Farz and al-Qobbeh.

Weapons, steel balls, detonators, and fuses used in the making of suicide belts were also confiscated in the raids.

The ISF noted that “more than 50 suicide vests” could have been produced from the seized bomb-making material.

The four arrested on Tuesday are accused of having communicated with the detainee Ibrahim al-Jamal, who was arrested around a week ago in al-Qobbeh carrying a suicide belt.

The five men are members of the Islamic State network that carried out a twin suicide bombing on Thursday in the Beirut southern suburb of Bourj al-Barajneh. The blasts killed 44 people and wounded 239 others, in the worst such attack in years.

Security forces have in recent days also raided apartments in Bourj al-Barajneh, Ashrafieh and Tripoli, arresting a number of Syrian and Lebanese suspects.

On Wednesday, state-run National News Agency said army intelligence agents arrested several Syrians in Tripoli, the southern city of Sidon, and the Beirut districts of Hamra and Gemmayze.

Six Syrians were arrested in Gemmayze as several others were apprehended in Hamra, NNA said.

It later reported that army intelligence agents had also arrested four Syrians in a raid in Sidon's al-Bawaba al-Fawqa area and several Syrians in a raid in Tripoli's al-Mutran Street.

The agency did not say if the army's arrests were linked to the Bourj al-Barajneh attacks.

Y.R.