Lebanon army busts al-Nusra Front cell in Tripoli

The arrest in Tripoli of an 11-member cell affiliated with al-Nusra Front (ANF), now known as Fatah al-Sham Front, is being hailed as a security success, even as security forces continue to hunt fugitive leader Shadi al-Mawlawi.

The arrests came after the Lebanese Army Directorate of Intelligence received information about the cell's plans, prompting a state of alert and the deployment of 10,000 security forces and 3,000 plainclothes security personnel to high profile areas on New Year's Eve, according to media reports.

Al-Mawlawi, who is believed to be hiding in Ain el-Hilweh camp, had ordered the cell to "send bomb-laden cars to Beirut's suburbs and assassinate civilians and incumbent and retired army officers", the army said in a January 3rd statement.

Based on the confessions of cell members, the statement said, several locations in Tripoli were raided and "a large quantity of explosives, a suicide belt, remote detonation devices, weapons, ammunition and a pistol equipped with a silencer were seized".

On January 4th, State Commissioner to Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged 15 people, including the 11 ANF elements , with "plotting to stage terrorist acts on New Year's Eve, blow up booby-trapped cars in Beirut, Tripoli and Dahyeh [Beirut's southern suburbs]", the National News Agency reported.

The following day, President Michel Aoun convened his first meeting of the Higher Defence Council, where he emphasised the "importance of pre-emptive confrontation against terrorist groups and the need for co-ordination between the security agencies".

Security co-operation

Co-ordinated security efforts and modern intelligence gathering led to the arrest of the ANF cell in December, security analysts and officials said.

"The hunt for the terrorists began before New Year's Eve," said Ruba Munther, a journalist specialising in terror groups who writes for al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The army arrested the cell members in three batches, she told Al-Mashareq, "as a result of tracking and follow up on information received on the movements of ANF terrorist Shadi al-Mawlawi".

The initial investigation led to the arrest of three individuals, which in turn led to the arrest of two others and subsequently the six remaining members of the network in one night, she said.

"It came to light that the cell is affiliated with ANF and was preparing to send car bombs to [Beirut's] southern suburbs to attack Christian places of worship, and was planning to assassinate current and former [military] officers whose names were associated with operations carried out against terrorists," she said.

The cell also planned to target restaurants, tourist facilities and nightclubs on New Year's Eve, according to Munther.

"Its elements were given instructions to blow themselves up in the event they did not reach their targets, to inflict the largest number of civilian casualties possible," she said.

The intelligence information prompted a security alert, she said, with security personnel deployed during the holiday period in all areas, including religious sites and places where tourists gather.

Lebanon spared 'disaster'

The arrest of the cell "spared Lebanon a tragic disaster of dire consequences", said Brig. Gen. Naji Malaeb, a security and military strategy specialist who is retired from the Lebanese military.

ANF activity in Tripoli had died down following a recent period of unrest after which the army deployed in the city, he told Al-Mashareq.

"But the resumption of its activity in Tripoli raises questions as to whether it is linked to the situation in Syria, or if its cells and networks have been reconstituted," he said.

The presence of terror cells in Tripoli can be attributed to neglect and poverty, Malaeb said, "which enabled terrorist groups to buy people" and spread "religious extremism".

"However, the watchful eye of the security agencies and modern technologies they use to uncover cells , as well as the prevailing reconciliatory political climate, have allowed [security agencies] to achieve their most prominent successes, and arrest the cell," he said.

"Tripoli today is under surveillance and security agencies are vigilant and enjoy international trust," he said.

A significant success

The ANF terror cell is "a very valuable catch", said Liban Message movement president Brig. Gen. Khalil al-Helou, a retired military officer.

The "arrest has helped stabilise the security situation during the holidays and spared Lebanon a tragedy on the scale of Istanbul's Reina nightclub tragedy", he told Al-Mashareq.

The success is a result of the security agencies' experience, knowledge and attention to detail, he said, and of the co-operation of all segments of the population with the agencies.

"[ANF] returned to the arena after the 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) stole the spotlight for three years, and the agencies are focused on fighting it with a high level of competence," he said.

"The arrest of the cell is of significant importance and the agencies are keenly interested in what the investigations will yield," he added.

"There is an exchange of information with international intelligence agencies in this regard, and everyone is waiting for the [results of the] investigations and to learn what al-Qaeda was preparing to do."