A terrorist cell linked with fugitive militant Shadi al-Mawlawi and al-Nusra Front (ANF) was charged Wednesday (January 4th) with plotting to stage terrorist acts on New Year's Eve, Lebanon's Naharnet reported.
Eleven members of the cell were recently arrested in Lebanon's Tripoli .
State Commissioner to Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged 15 people in total 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], assassinating incumbent and retired officers and targeting civilian gatherings", the National News Agency reported.
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 Tuesday 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".
