General Security: Tarras Met in Turkey with Man behind Bekaa Bombs, Naameh Car

The General Directorate of General Security wrapped up Thursday its investigations into the bombing that rocked Zahle's Ksara area in late August, noting that Sheikh Bassam al-Tarras was briefly held in the case for interrogation over a meeting in Turkey with the attack's mastermind.

“The case, the detainees and the seized items were referred to the army's intelligence directorate at the request of State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr,” General Security said in a statement.

“The busted terrorist cell that comprises Lebanese and Syrian nationals was receiving instructions and logistic support from the Turkey-based Lebanese fugitive Mohammed Qassem al-Ahmed, aka Abou al-Baraa,” the directorate added.

It reiterated that Abou al-Baraa is wanted over the booby-trapped car that was discovered in the Naameh area in 2013.

Abou al-Baraa's real identity was unveiled by Tarras during interrogation, General Security said, noting that Tarras' file has also been referred to the army's intelligence directorate.

Tarras had met in “Turkey's Lares area with Abou al-Baraa, the Lebanese A. M. Gh. who is currently in custody, and the Turkey-based Lebanese national B. A. Kh.,” the directorate said.

The four men held their meeting in an apartment owned by the Syrian M. H. R., aka Abou Alaa, who is wanted in several terror cases, General Security added.

“This cell was also receiving technical support from the Syrian A. F. A., who entered Lebanon via the International Committee of the Red Cross through the town of Arsal after he was injured in the Syrian war in which he was fighting alongside Liwaa al-Islam,” the directorate said.

“He appointed himself as an emir over the cell and its members pledged allegiance to him,” General Security added.

The busted cell was operating in the Bekaa region and its activities involved recruiting members for Syria-based terrorist groups, providing bomb-making material, and surveilling Lebanese regions with the aim of staging bomb attacks, the directorate said.

According to General Security, the cell was behind the August 31 Zahle bombing as well as the explosive device that was discovered on the Saadnayel-Zahle road on May 6.

“Lebanese detainees A. M. Gh. and W. A. S. prepared the two explosive devices at the latter's house in Saadnayel. They then planted the first bomb at Abdullah al-Kurdi's showroom in collaboration with the Syrian M. A. B., who is a bomb-making expert, while the second bomb was placed on Zahle's Ksara road by A. M. Gh. and M. Sh. R.,” the directorate explained.

According to An Nahar newspaper, Abdullah al-Kurdi, the son of the showroom's owner Jihad al-Kurdi, “has links to the Hizbullah-affiliated Resistance Brigades.”

Quoting security sources, An Nahar said the bomb weighed 4.5 kilograms of explosives.

The brief arrest of Tarras, a former mufti of the Rashaya area, had created an uproar in Lebanon's Sunni community, especially among the ranks of the influential Muslim Scholars Committee and some Islamic activists.

The Ksara bomb attack left an elderly woman dead and at least ten people wounded.

The explosive device that was placed at a busy roundabout was targeted against AMAL Movement convoys that were carrying supporters to a rally commemorating Imam Moussa al-Sadr in the southern city of Tyre, AMAL Movement leader and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said a day after the attack.

Other vehicles were hit by the blast shortly after AMAL buses passed by the roundabout, reports have said.