BEIRUT: A high value “terrorist” arrested Thursday in a major Lebanese Army raid in north Lebanon has links to a lawmaker, the daily As-Safir reported Friday.
A lengthy report with detailed information said Ahmad Salim Mikati was coordinating efforts with an MP from north Lebanon.
As-Safir did not name the lawmaker but said he was known for his extremist views.
Quoting a security source, As-Safir said preliminary investigation of Mikati, who was detained during a “delicate” Army operation in the Dinnieh neighborhood of Asoun Thursday, showed he had been in “constant contact” with the unnamed lawmaker via his cell phone.
Mikati, according to the investigation, had coordinated with the MP via WhatsApp messenger service. Mikati would also send the lawmaker video grabs showing defected Lebanese soldiers.
The source said the military would take the necessary legal and judicial measures against the MP, including a request to lift his parliamentary immunity so that he could be interrogated.
The soldiers involved in the operation had orders to arrest Mikati alive, according to the source.
The source said the zero-hour for the raid on the Asoun apartment that housed the Syrian-Lebanese terror cell was set after analysis of a video – which was broadcast on social networking website showing Army defector Abdel-Kader Akoumi – revealed the IP address originated from the outskirts of Dinnieh.
After Army Intelligence expanded its surveillance, they were able to determine the exact location and investigation revealed the location of the apartment near Asoun’s public hospital.
Investigation also showed that the seven-member terror cell had rented the apartment two weeks prior to the Army operation after convincing the owner that they wanted it for the fall hunting season in Dinnieh.
The report said a Lebanese Army “strike force” stormed the apartment at 5 a.m., engaging the gunmen in a gunfight.
It said the fighting with machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades left two gunmen killed, one of them identified as Adel al-Itri from Minyeh, north Lebanon.
The second fatality was charred beyond recognition, the report said, while suggesting it likely belonged to Akoumi, the Army deserter.
A third gunman was seriously wounded in the 30-minute clash and died while being transported in a military vehicle to Beirut.
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