12 Lebanese, Including Rifaat Eid, Charged with Belonging to Armed Terrorist Group
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Saturday 12 Lebanese, including Arab Democratic Party politburo chief Rifaat Eid, with belonging to an armed group, possession of arms and inciting sedition.
State-run National News Agency reported that the 12 men are charged with belonging to an armed terrorist group, seeking to carry out terrorist acts and involvement in gunbattles between the rival neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh in the northern city of Tripoli.
They are also charged with the possession of arms and inciting sectarian sedition.
The case was referred to the First Military Investigation Judge Riyad Abu Ghida.
11 suspects, including Eid, are fugitives.
Rifaat's father, Ali Eid, is wanted for questioning over an August twin car bomb attack against two Sunni mosques in Tripoli that killed 45 people.
Security forces kicked off on Tuesday the security plan in Tripoli, seizing arms depots and detaining wanted suspects, who are involved in security chaos in the area.
Even in this deployment, top wanted men fled, including Eid, after they were given a warning of the implementation of the plan.
The security plan is an important test case for whether Lebanon can reverse its slide into conflict, fueled by violent sectarian tensions triggered by the war next door in Syria, particularly between the country's Sunnis and Shiite Muslims.
Tripoli witnesses frequent gunbattles between two of the impoverished neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh, which is dominated by Sunnis who support Syrian rebels, and Jabal Mohsen, which is dominated by Alawites, who share the same sect as Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Lebanon's politicians are deeply divided over the Syrian war, and until February, the country was left without a government for nearly a year over it.
- H. K.
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