Friday, June 20, 2014

12 Suspected #ISIS Jihadists Detained in Beirut Hotel

In Lebanon.

Think about it. Right next to Israel. A hop and a skip from Jordan.

ISIS by definition is a region-wide movement for the caliphate.

At the New York Times, "A Dozen Men, Reportedly Islamist Militants, Detained in Beirut Hotel":
BEIRUT — Lebanese security forces detained 12 men in a Beirut hotel on Friday, in what local news media reported was a move to capture members of the Sunni militant group ISIS who were suspected of plotting to assassinate a leading Shiite political figure.

Security forces blocked off numerous streets in Hamra, the main commercial district of West Beirut, and surrounded the Napoleon Hotel. Outside the hotel, in a neighborhood of narrow streets full of shops, apartments and midrange hotels, dozens of armed security officers forced pedestrians off the streets, then led 12 men, their heads covered, out of the hotel.

According to Lebanese news channels, security forces were still hunting down other militants believed to be at large in the Hamra neighborhood. The channels said that the militant cell comprised mostly foreigners, including Syrians, Iraqis, Pakistanis and others, and that as many as 17 men had been arrested or were being sought.

Earlier on Friday, the Amal movement, a Shiite political party, canceled a conference at a United Nations building downtown, citing security concerns. NOW Lebanon, a local news website, reported that the ISIS members arrested were suspected of planning to assassinate Amal’s leader, the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, and Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the commander of Lebanon’s general security agency.

mal is an ally of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite party and militant group that has provided decisive military help to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria against insurgents, including Sunni jihadist groups.
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