General Security Arrests Two Suspects Involved in Abra Battles

The General Security arrested on Saturday two individuals, a Lebanese and Syrian, on charges of having links to terror groups and for waging attacks against the Lebanese army during the Abra battles in 2013, the state-run National News Agency reported.

“Based on the General Prosecution’s order to follow up on sleeper terror cells, the General Security arrested Lebanese Kh.B. on charges of having links to terror groups,” the General Security said in a statement.

“During the interrogations of the suspect he confessed to forming sleeper cells in favor of terror groups and to providing them with weapons, in collaboration with Syrian A.Kh. for the purpose of carrying out assaults on Lebanese soil,” it added.

He also confessed to fighting with militants against the Lebanese army during the battles that took place in the Abra suburb of the southern city of Sidon in 2013.

The General Security has therefore raided and arrested A.Kh. at his place of residence and confiscated military weapons in his possession.

The detainees were referred to the related judiciary and efforts continue to arrest the rest of culprits.

The armed supporters of Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, a firebrand anti-Hizbullah cleric, clashed with the Lebanese army in Abra in June 2013 after they opened fire on a military checkpoint.

The fighting killed 18 Lebanese soldiers.

Al-Asir, who had been on the run since the battles, was arrested in August 2015 at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport while trying to travel to Nigeria via Cairo with a fake Palestinian passport.