Lebanon army nabs ISIL cell after checkpoint attack

The Lebanese army recently arrested four members of an "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) terror cell after they opened fire on an army checkpoint in the north of the country, killing one soldier and injuring another.

The December 4th attack took place at a 10th Infantry Brigade post on a remote road in Bekaasafrine–Denniye, with the assailants firing military-grade weapons.

Investigation into the attack led to the arrest of all the perpetrators by an Intelligence Directorate force and army forces deployed in the area, the Army Directorate of Orientation said in a December 7th statement.

Security forces also seized the weapons used in the assault, which they found in a forested area nearby, the statement said.

During a visit to the 10th Infantry Brigade units deployed in Bekaasafrine in the aftermath of the attack, Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwaji inspected the security measures being taken to maintain stability in the area.

"Detainees are being interrogated with regard to the attack," he said, vowing that Lebanon's war on terrorism will continue until these cells are eradicated wherever they are, using all available means.

Attackers linked with Syria

The checkpoint attack "was carried out by a group that takes direct orders from al-Raqa", said Stephanie Gerges, a journalist who writes for LebanonDebate.com.

Prompt follow up investigations revealed the attack "was carried out by four members of a terrorist cell, whose ages range from 19 to 25", she told Al-Mashareq.

"It is part of a network of several cluster cells that do not know each other, and there is no direct communication between their members," she said, noting that this is the modus operandi ISIL uses in Lebanon.

The cell had been in the process of planning further attacks against various military sites, Gerges added, noting that the swift arrest of the cell members spared the military institution further bloodshed.

According to her sources, Gerges said, the arrest of the cell "helped identify a list of priority targets" as the group "had received orders from al-Raqa directly to target the closest military post".

The Lebanese cell had received orders to carry out an attack in retaliation for the successive operations the army is carrying out against extremist groups and the losses it has inflicted upon their ranks, she said.

Support for Lebanese army

The recent incident "is an attack on the great patriotic role played by the army in dismantling terrorist cells and stemming their expansion on Lebanese territory and their attacks on Denniye", said Denniye MP Qassem Abdul Aziz.

Local residents "stand shoulder to shoulder with the army and security forces to maintain the national peace in the country", he told Al-Mashareq.

"We condemn the attack, which distorts the image of the region," he said, adding that Denniye "remains loyal to the state and the army, by which we stand".

It is likely that the attack intended to send the Lebanese authorities a message that extremist groups are still active in the area, said Middle East Centre for Strategic Studies head Brig. Gen. Hisham Jaber, a retired army officer.

Extremist groups have been trying to claim the barren area around Denniye is "an incubating environment for terrorism" since the first clashes with the army in that location in 1999, he told Al-Mashareq.

"However, since that date, a crackdown on terrorism ensued and the inciting extremist religious discourse receded," he said.

The battles the army is fighting against extremists and the pre-emptive measures it is taking are proving to be effective, Jaber said, adding that the proof of this is in the arrest of the perpetrators of the recent attack.

This was achieved in part by the interrogation of detained individuals, he said, which helped the armed forces identify the location of the attackers.