BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army said Tuesday it had arrested 10 people suspected of belonging to a “terrorist network” plotting attacks abroad and against UN peacekeepers stationed in southern Lebanon.
“Our investigation has shown that this network was planning to smuggle wanted terrorists out of Ein El-Hilweh (refugee camp) ... smuggle Fatah Al-Islam fighters into Ein El-Hilweh, to carry out attacks from Lebanon on targets abroad and create terrorist cells to monitor the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the army in order to carry out terrorist attacks on them,” an army statement said. Peacekeepers with the UNIFIL have been the target of several attacks since 2006.
Nine of the arrested suspects hailed from unidentified Arab states, an army spokesman said, but gave no information on the tenth. Some of the suspects were employed in private companies in Lebanon and used their jobs as covers for their operations, the army statement said.
“This is an issue that the Lebanese Army and Lebanese authorities are addressing,” UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said. “It is a matter that is in the hands of the Lebanese authorities.”
The arrests come days after 14 UN peacekeepers were injured by stone-throwing protesters while investigating the explosion of an arms cache in southern Lebanon.
