Operator of Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade Twitter Account in ISF Captivity
The Internal Security Forces announced on Thursday evening the arrest of the operator of the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade's Twitter account, revealing that he a 19 years old man who hails from the Bekaa's Baalbek region.
"The Intelligence Bureau arrested on Thursday the operator of the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade's Twitter account,” the ISF said in a tweet on the same social media website.
He is Lebanese national H.Sh.H., 19, and has confessed to managing the shadowy group's account, the ISF added.
The mysterious Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade had in the past claimed that it is an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but the ISIL later denied that.
The Brigade has claimed responsibility for several rocket and bomb attacks inside Lebanon, the last of which were the suicide blasts in Dahr al-Baydar and Raouche's Duroy Hotel.
But what raised suspicions over the seriousness of the vague group's influence was a war of words it engaged in on March 16 with al-Nusra Front in Lebanon, believed to be a local franchise of the Syria-based, Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.
The dispute erupted after both groups claimed responsibility on Twitter for a deadly suicide bombing that rocked the Bekaa town of al-Nabi Othman.
On July 24, the account was unreachable on Twitter, despite having many followers. Another account was founded to replace it but could not enjoy the same popularity.
The obscure group has threatened to target Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji and Maj. Suzan al-Hajj, chief of the Internal Security Forces' Cyber Crime and Intellectual Property Protection bureau.
It has repeatedly slammed the military institution as the “Crusader Army” and it vowed to task gunmen to attack churches in Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa valley in particular.
Consequently, another Twitter account emerged as a response to the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade under the name of “Free Crusader Brigade.”
S.D.B.
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