Posted on 09/25/2014 5:27:27 PM PDT by markomalley
Military Investigative Judge Fadi Sawan indicted a Syrian Thursday on charges of belonging to a terrorist group with the intent to kill Lebanese Army soldiers.
A judicial source said Syrian national Amer Hamdoun was charged with belonging to Islamist group Jund al-Sham, which has followers in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh.
Hamdoun was also indicted for buying weapons and explosives with the aim of attacking Lebanese Army checkpoints and positions in the northern city of Tripoli, the source told The Daily Star.
The Army is being increasingly targeted in the northern city of Tripoli. In a separate incident Tuesday, soldier Mohammad Khaled al-Hussein was killed when unknown gunmen opened fire on a Lebanese Army position. Grenades have also been thrown at military posts.
The Lebanese Army has been engaged in a relentless battle against terrorism over the past months.
In August, militants from the Nusra Front and ISIS took over the northeastern town of Arsal.
They withdrew after five days of clashes. They are still holding as hostages 21 Lebanese Army soldiers and policemen, whom they captured during the battles.
ISIS beheaded two of the soldiers it had kidnapped, while the Nusra Front shot dead one last week.
ISIS is reportedly demanding a prisoner swap: exchanging the captives with Islamist inmates held in Roumieh prison, while the Nusra Front is calling for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to Arsal and better treatment of Syrian refugees.
The Lebanese government has insisted that it will only start indirect negotiations with the militants once they stop killing the captures servicemen. Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Wednesday that a swap deal was possible.
Also last week, two soldiers were killed and three wounded when a bomb detonated near an Army vehicle in Arsal.
ISIS is reportedly demanding a prisoner swap: exchanging the captives with Islamist inmates held in Roumieh prison, while the Nusra Front is calling for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to Arsal and better treatment of Syrian refugees.
The Lebanese government has insisted that it will only start indirect negotiations with the militants once they stop killing the captures servicemen. Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Wednesday that a swap deal was possible.
Sounds likely that they are going to try for a "separate peace"...
later
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