Nusra Front: ISIS planning attack in northern Lebanon
Islamic State sleeper cells in Lebanon would allegedly be called into action against the Lebanese army
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMONLebanese Army soliders take position near store front(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Islamic State terrorist group is planning a major attack against the Lebanese army in the northern city of Tripoli, al-Qaida’s Nusra Front claimed.“According to documented information, ISIS [Islamic State] is preparing for a large operation in Tripoli on the first day of Ramadan against the Lebanese army,” said a Twitter account of an alleged Nusra Front official on Sunday, according to a report in the Lebanese The Daily Star and which was also reported by the local As-Safir newspaper.The official, Aas al-Siraa fi al-Sham, said the attack would be led by Islamic State commander Abu Qatada al-Iraqi, who was dispatched from the group’s stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, and is currently residing in the Sunni stronghold of Tripoli.Islamic State sleeper cells in Lebanon would be called into action, al-Sham said.Nusra Front and Islamic State are both Sunni groups which are competing against each other, and therefore the veracity of the report comes into question.The Nusra Front commander went on to raise an outlandish conspiracy theory that the army was collaborating with Islamic State.Meanwhile, the Lebanese army arrested three Syrians accused of belonging to terrorist organizations, the army said on Monday, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.The Lebanese news agency also said that Israeli fighter jets violated its airspace on Monday morning over Marjayoun, in the south.Separately, Hezbollah’s al-Manar media outlet reported that Hezbollah fighters attacked Nusra Front members on Sunday around the eastern Lebanese city of Arsal.
