Lebanese army breaks up ISIL cell in Akkar

Lebanese counter-terrorism efforts have in recent weeks succeeded in breaking up several "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) cells, preventing future attacks and keeping the group from securing an outlet to the Mediterranean.

On June 2nd, an army special forces unit raided an ISIL-affiliated cell in the town of Khirbet Daoud in Akkar district, killing cell member Khaled Saadeddin in a shootout and arresting his cousins; Jassem, Samir and Zaher Saadeddin.

The brothers are relatives of former army soldier Atef Saadeddin, who defected during the August 2014 events in Arsal and joined al-Nusra Front (ANF).

The raid was conducted as a pre-emptive counter-terrorism operation and was based on prior surveillance and tracking efforts, the army's guidance directorate said in a statement.

The cell was "responsible for the killing of three soldiers in ambushes it carried out in al-Bireh and Raihania areas and wounding an Internal Security Forces (ISF) intelligence division non-commissioned officer", the statement said.

"Cell members opened fire on the raiding unit, which returned fire and was able to kill one terrorist and arrest three others," the statement added.

The unit then conducted a search that turned up an explosives belt, a number of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and machine guns, ammunition, explosives, grenades and detonators, according to the army. It also found binoculars, a silencer, communications devices and various types of military equipment.

Cell members confessed they had targeted military vehicles and carried out attacks over a four-year period before their arrest, Lebanese media reported.

One of the detainees, Jassem Saadeddin, confessed to assassinating Badr Eid, the brother of the late MP Ali Eid, in an ambush in Akkar.

Efforts to take out ISIL cells

Three weeks earlier, in Sidon, the intelligence division arrested a five-member ISIL cell that acted on the orders of ISIL leader Abu Waleed al-Suri in al-Raqa.

On June 3rd, the Directorate General of State Security in Mount Lebanon broke up another ISIL cell in the Aley area after placing it under surveillance, arresting its leader and all its members.

The Lebanese army’s intelligence division received information some time ago about the terrorist activity of an ISIL cell led by Khaled Saadeddin in Akkar, said journalist Daoud Rammal, who specialises in security affairs.

"The group was put under constant tracking and surveillance at a time when other terrorist groups were being busted one after the other," he told Al-Shorfa.

The army confirmed from investigations and confessions yielded from earlier arrests the culpability of the Saadeddin group in the attack on the army and a violent clash with an intelligence division unit conducting a raid in the area.

As the security forces closed in on the group, he added, "its members engaged in the extortion and intimidation of residents in a show of bravado".

Complaints about the group’s actions in and around Khirbet Daoud continued to flow to the security services, prompting the army to launch the operation.

Thwarting ISIL's expansion

The Saadeddin cell had been laying the groundwork for future attacks, Rammal said, gathering materials used to make explosives, rig car bombs and manufacture suicide belts, and also had made attempts to recruit youth.

The preliminary confessions of the three detainees indicate the cell was tasked "with a very serious mission" that included the establishment of a foothold for ISIL in Lebanon as a prelude to bringing in more members, he said.

A gradual expansion was planned, he said, with the intention of turning it into a base and a springboard from which to move to other areas, until ultimately achieving the objective of securing an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea.

"The cell members were wanted by the state, hence, its elimination is of high security importance because its apprehension coincided with secret intelligence on plans to carry out three attacks," said retired Brig. Gen. Nizar Abdel Kader, an expert on strategic and security affairs.

The uncovering of the cell and others like it is a triumph for the security services, he told Al-Shorfa, praising the "co-ordination between security services and exchange of information".

"The agencies successfully used the database created based on the investigations of arrested terrorists, which led to the arrest of these cells," he said.

Regarding the possibility that there are other terror cells in Lebanon's north, he said that ISIL and ANF are making repeated attempts to form cells in various parts of the country, and it is not unlikely that other cells have been formed.

'Not an incubator for terrorism'

Another reason ISIL seeks to form cells in Lebanon is because the border with Syria is permeable, enabling groups such as ISIL and ANF to cross and recruit new members, Abdel Kader said.

"Security agencies will remain vigilant and will carry out pre-emptive operations to apprehend and eliminate sleeper cells," he added.

"The region is not an incubating environment for terrorism," Akkar MP Khaled Daher stressed, noting that the majority of Khirbet Daoud's population, including the detainees’ relatives, support the Lebanese armed forces.

Daher downplayed the possible existence of ISIL cells in Akkar.

"I think their supporters can be counted on the fingers of one hand," he said. "Our people are not supportive of the attempts to destabilise security. They are merely sympathetic to their Syrian brothers who were displaced from their villages and are not allowed to return to them until after security is established in them, particularly in the Qalamoun region."

"Sunni political leaders, Dar Al-Fatwa and the Grand Mufti of Tripoli and the North reject the terrorist approach," he said.