Lebanese Security Forces Thwarted ISIS Terror Plot To Attack Hezbollah Stronghold (Video)

The official logo of the Lebanese Internal Security Force.s

On February 23, Lebanon’s Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi announced that the Internal Security Forces (ISF) had thwarted a plan by ISIS to carry out three bombings in the Southern Suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, which is known to be stronghold of Hezbollah.

“A terrorist group had recruited young Palestinian men in Lebanon to carry out major bombing attacks using explosive belts,” Mawlawi said at a press conference. “Three separate targets were to be hit at the same time.”

The bombings were planned by an ISIS commander based in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, which is located just outside the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. The commander passed instructions to an undercover agent recruited by the ISF.

On February 7, the undercover agent was instructed to prepare attacks on a Shiite religious compound in the al-Laylaki neighborhood, the Imam al-Kazem compound in Haret Hreik and the Al-Nasser religious centre in Beirut’s Ouzai suburb.

The undercover agent was given three explosive vests and other weapons with orders to conduct the bombings on February 16.

So far, the ISF have identified four suspected terrorists residing in the Ain al-Hilweh camp who were involved in the terror plot. Mawlawi said that two suspects were arrested without clarifying if they were among the four identified in Ain al-Hilweh. It’s worth noting that Lebanese government forces are not allowed to enter Palestinian refugee camps in the country.

ISIS has been working to expand its influence in Lebanon. Last year, Lebanon’s al-Modon revealed in a report that more than 100 men from northern Lebanon traveled to Iraq through Syria to join the ranks of ISIS. At least eight of the men have been reported killed in Iraq since December.

The terrorist group appears to be taking advantage of the bad situation in Lebanon, who has been experiencing a serious economic crisis for the last few years.

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