Military Court Charges Suspect with Terrorism, Refers19 to Trial

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Thursday a detainee with terrorism and belonging to an armed terror group, reported the National News Agency.

The suspect, known as Abou Malek Sara, is charged with booby-trapping vehicles, belonging to a terrorist group, and killing soldiers.

The vehicles he booby-trapped include the one driven by Joumana Hmeid and another used in a bombing in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Dahieh, in 2014.

Hmeid was charged over her involvement with al-Qaida-linked groups. She was detained in February 2014 on the Arsal-Labweh road when she was transporting a car rigged with explosives.

She was released in December 2015 as part of a swap deal with al-Nusra Front to free a number of servicemen the group had kidnapped in August 2014 in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

Also on Thursday, Military Tribunal Judge Fadi Sawan issued six indictments, accusing 17 detainees and two fugitives with belonging to the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front groups.

The suspects include eight Syrians, while the rest are Lebanese.

They were accused of seeking to carry out terror attacks in Arsal and the northeastern border region of Wadi Khaled.

They also took part in fighting between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in the northern city of Tripoli and vandalized public property.

Arrest warrants have been issued against them and they were referred to the permanent military court for trial.

M.T.

G.K.