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Conflict Incident Report
ISF arrests 2 suspected Daesh members in Northern Lebanon
The Internal Security Forces has arrested two suspected Daesh (ISIS) members in northern Lebanon's Minyeh-Dinnieh for allegedly planning attacks in the country, according to a statement released by the ISF Friday.
The ISF said the first suspect, identified as Lebanese national H.S., had admitted to contacting members of Daesh based in Syria, after having been released from Roumieh prison, where he served a three-year sentence for belonging to Daesh.
Upon his release, in 2017, he contacted a relative, M.S., requesting to fight for Daesh in Syria, according to the statement. H.S. then contacted a person called Abu Hicham, who asked him to target a church in Lebanon.
M.S. had meanwhile asked H.S. to target Lebanese Army checkpoints in northern Lebanon, and said that he would be provided with the necessary weapons and an explosives belt. The weapons were meant to be sent from Syria through Wadi Khaled in Akkar.
H.S. agreed to what M.S. and Abu Hicham asked of him “with enthusiasm,” the statement said, and was awaiting the arrival of the explosives belt.
His second target was to be the Army’s Beddawi checkpoint, which is staffed by three soldiers, whom H.S. was ordered to shoot with a rifle.
At the time of his arrest, H.S. had not yet received any weapons.
H.S. said he had also asked his other relative, A.S., to accompany him to Syria to join Daesh.
A.S. also contacted Abu Hicham, who had asked A.S. to attack Army checkpoints and a church, but A.S. rejected the order. A.S. did not notify authorities of H.S.’s planned attacks, according to the statement, and was arrested in Wadi al-Nahleh in Minyeh-Dinnieh.
Both suspects were referred to the relevant authorities, and an investigation is ongoing.