BEIRUT: Internal Security Forces Sunday arrested an alleged Syrian aid of a radical north Lebanon preacher taken into custody last week.
The ISF’s Information Branch arrested Syrian national Ahmad Mohammad Abdo, also known as Abu Mousaab, following investigations into Sheikh Khaled Hablas who was arrested in Tripoli Thursday, a security source told the Daily Star Monday.
The 42-year old suspect, who works in a fast food restaurant in the Tripoli neighborhood of Zahriyeh, is said to have “close ties” to the radical preacher and is suspected of aiding him in recruiting young men from Tripoli and north Lebanon to fight in Syria, the source added.
The suspect is also accused of organizing a number of operations that targeted Lebanese troops in the town of Bhenin, where Hablas headed an anti-Army militia, according to the source.
Police Sunday chased down the suspect who was driving a motorbike, from the Tripoli citadel to the city’s old souk, which is only a few minutes away.
The arrest came three days after police shot dead notorious Islamist militant Osama Mansour and one of his partners in Tripoli during an operation to arrest Hablas.
Hablas has been pursued by security forces for allegedly orchestrating attacks against the Army. The Army has labeled the preacher a “terrorist.”
Hablas who led a militant group in the north Lebanon district of Minyeh is wanted for his involvement in the four-day clashes between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants in North Lebanon.
Interrogations of the radical cleric have uncovered key information about his joint operation with Mansour.
Security sources have said that the two men were planning to regroup forces and activate dormant terror cells in north Lebanon.
After Hablas was arrested, authorities raided his house and found enough evidence to incriminate him in a series of crimes and uncovered leads into the next operation, the source said.
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