Woman Held for Trying to Recruit Females for al-Nusra, Fugitive Hurt in Bekaa Chase

A Syrian woman has been arrested in the Bekaa for trying to recruit women for the extremist al-Nusra Front while a fugitive was wounded in a clash with the army in al-Masnaa, state-run National News Agency reported.

“The army arrested in the town of al-Nabi Sheet a Syrian woman identified as Umm Jamal on suspicion of her collaboration with al-Nusra Front,” NNA said.

The woman used to work in the town in the past and she raised suspicions after her return to the same job, the agency noted.

“During interrogation, the woman confessed that she was seeking to recruit women to assist the Front in its acts of sabotage,” NNA added.

Al-Jadeed television said the woman was arrested three days ago.

In a separate incident, “the fugitive Abdul Hayy Saleh Ammoun was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with an army patrol following a chase on the al-Masnaa road” in the Bekaa, NNA said.

The agency said the incident took place near al-Akramiyeh's intersection and that the wounded suspect was rushed to the Hrawi state-run hospital in al-Maalqa. But al-Jadeed said the man was killed when a hand grenade that was in his possession exploded during the chase.

On February 12, the army intercepted a booby-trapped vehicle on the Arsal-al-Labweh road in the Bekaa region.

The Army Command announced in a statement that the vehicle had arrived in Lebanon from Syria's Yabrud region. Containing three women, the car was going to be transported to Beirut where it was to be handed over to would-be suicide-bombers.

Quoting military sources, LBCI television said the women confessed to plotting "a triple bombing during which the car and two suicide bombers were supposed to blow up."

However, two of the three women were freed on Saturday afternoon.

"State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the release of Hala Rayed and Khadijeh Audeh for not having any links with the incident,” NNA said.

The third suspect, Joumana Hmayyed, was kept in custody, according to the state-run news agency.

Extremist organizations, including a group calling itself al-Nusra Front in Lebanon, have claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks in recent months against areas considered strongholds of Hizbullah.

Dozens of civilians were killed and scores were wounded in the bombings.