The Lebanese Directorate of General Security announced on Wednesday the arrest of members of an Islamic State (IS, terrorist group banned in Russia) cell in the town of Ersal on the border with Syria
BEIRUT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2019) The Lebanese Directorate of General Security announced on Wednesday the arrest of members of an Islamic State (IS, terrorist group banned in Russia) cell in the town of Ersal on the border with Syria."[Three] citizens of Syria, accused of being involved in the Islamic State terrorist group, were detained as part of a surveillance [mission] of sleeper terrorist cells and pursuit of their members, as was directed by the head office," the intelligence agency said in a statement.
According to the statement, the first among those detained joined the IS in Ersal under the leadership of a Syrian nicknamed Abu Bakar Al-Qari. He used social networks to form a group that answered to the IS. Members of the recruited group were expected to be armed for further activities in Lebanon.
The detainees had direct contact with the leaders of the IS in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Europe and Turkey. They also distributed videos with instructions on creating explosives from readily available materials. The oldest of the detained individuals had created explosives himself with the aim of killing certain Ersal residents and attacking Lebanese army patrols, the statement read.
In December, Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said security forces had conducted an operation to prevent a series of blasts in the country, which had been plotted by a terrorist group headquartered in Syria's Idlib. The minister noted that the terrorists had been planning to attack cultural sites and military institutions during the election period.
The IS is an international terror organization that is actively spreading ideas of radical islam across the world. The group occupied huge territories in Syria and Iraq in 2014, which were later retaken by the countries' respective governments.
