Lebanon foils ISIL plot targeting central Beirut

Lebanon has been proactive in its attempts to maintain security in downtown Beirut, recently thwarting an "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) plot to attack an area popular with tourists, security officials tell Al-Mashareq.

On January 10th, the General Directorate of General Security (GDGS) arrested a Sidon native who had been using the surveillance cameras of the Solidere real estate development agency to monitor the downtown area.

These actions were a prelude to conducting an attack, the directorate said.

ISIL had tasked the man, named as Mustafa al-Safadi, with creating a list of targets and collecting information about local political figures, economic and tourist sites, local media reported.

Al-Safadi confessed he had passed on the information he collected on the movement and residences of political figures and convoys to another person, who in turn passed them on to someone in the Syrian city of al-Raqa.

Al-Safadi and a Palestinian accomplice were charged with "belonging to a terrorist group, communicating with leaders of the group and facilitating the departure of individuals to join its ranks", the GDGS said on February 8th.

According to the directorate, al-Safadi "confessed to communicating with leaders of a terrorist group in Syria and attempting to travel there to join its ranks, with the help of the Palestinian individual arrested with him, through and in co-ordination with individuals in the Ain al-Hilweh [Palestinian refugee] camp".

He also confessed to monitoring and tracking the movement and residences of political figures and security convoys that pass through downtown Beirut in preparation to carry out a suicide attack, the directorate said.

The Palestinian confessed to asking al-Safadi for "information on some figures in downtown Beirut by virtue of his work as a monitor of surveillance cameras in the area for the purpose of carrying out a suicide attack".

GDGS director Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said the arrested individual "was collecting information from surveillance cameras installed in downtown Beirut and passing it on to an engineer, who in turn was passing it on to an agent in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, who passed it on to al-Raqa in Syria".

The directorate kept the incident quiet, he said during a February 8th meeting with St. Joseph University students, "because the terrorists’ objective is to spark terror and strike at the economy, even if the attack is not carried out".

Also on February 8th, the directorate dismantled an active terrorist cell consisting of three Syrians in the Choueifat area that had put a list of civilian targets in the pipeline for execution, local media reported.

An improvised explosive device (IED) was found in the possession of one of the arrested individuals.

Attempts to strike at tourism

The commercial area of Beirut was probably targeted in response to "the promising signs of the return of Arab and Gulf tourism", said Brig. Gen. Naji Malaeb, a security strategy specialist who is retired from the Lebanese military.

Terrorist elements are seeking to strike at key tourist sites, he told Al-Mashareq, noting that the recently thwarted plot comes on the heels of another foiled suicide attack at the Costa café in Beirut's Hamra district.

On the night of January 21st, the army Intelligence Directorate, in co-ordination with the information branch of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), foiled the attack and arrested the would-be suicide bomber, Omar Hassan al-Assi.

The security forces also seized an explosive belt in his possession.

During a recent visit to Lebanon, Saudi Minister of State for Arab Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan confirmed the return of Saudi tourists and an increase in the number of flights to Lebanon.

"There is talk of promising spring and summer seasons," Malaeb said.

The recently targeted downtown area "includes the headquarters of the House of Representatives in Nejmeh Square and bustles with economic and tourist activity in its square, cafés and surrounding markets", he said.

The plots targeting Beirut are not isolated incidents, he said, "but a continuation of what was brought to light not too long ago by Interior Minister Nohad al-Machnouk about the foiled attempted attack on Casino du Liban and commercial complexes on Christmas and New Year’s Eve ".

"ISIL cells are active and in contact with al-Raqa, but the security agencies are pre-emptively uncovering their plots and arresting them," Malaeb said.

Security in downtown Beirut

Downtown Beirut is preparing for the return of Arab and Gulf tourists, said Solidere general manager Mounir Douaidy.

"The company is implementing routine daily preventive measures through specialised staff, out of its keenness to protect the security and safety of workers and patrons in downtown Beirut," he told Al-Mashareq.

"As for the security issue, it falls within the authority of the state’s security agencies," he told Al-Mashareq.

Commercial downtown Beirut, like other areas of Lebanon, is a tourist, residential and commercial area, he said, and the state is implementing precautionary measures to maintain security there.