Lebanese Army arrests wanted ISIS leader near Syrian border

The Lebanese Army Command announced the arrest of a wanted Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) leader near the Syrian border on Thursday.

“The patrol of the Intelligence Directorate in the town of Arsal raided the house of the named (J.H.) and arrested him along with a number of people, for heading a group affiliated with ISIS and participating in the fight against the army in Arsal,” the army said in a statement released by MTV Lebanon.

The statement indicated that the arrested ISIS leader was “wanted for several arrest warrants for various crimes, including contact with terrorists, gunfire towards citizens, trade of weapons of war and theft of cars.”

A tunnel was found in his house that extends from inside the house to the outside, and inside were a plethora of weapons, ammunition and explosives.

Earlier, the first military investigative judge in Lebanon accused 21 people of belonging to the terrorist organization and planning to target the American embassy in Lebanon with a drone.

According to a statement by the military judiciary, published by the National News Agency, “The first acting military investigative judge, Fadi Sawan, issued an indictment against the Syrian Ibrahim Al-Salem and twenty of his companions.”

The statement said that the judge accused the accused of “belonging to ISIS, preparing, explosive devices, buying chemicals for them, and conducting experiments on them.”

The statement pointed out that the accused Ibrahim Al Salem “was in the process of purchasing a drone” to put the device on it and detonate it over the American embassy.