Army arrests suspects in attack on military patrol
The Lebanese Army has arrested two fugitives from justice and is investigating their involvement in last month”s deadly attack on a military patrol in Riyaq. An army statement, issued on Friday, said that Ajaj Aref Jaafar and Hamdan Ali Jaafar were apprehended overnight in the Sharawina neighborhood of Baalbek.
The two were surrounded by army personnel and returned fire before being apprehended. They were found to be in possession of a stolen vehicle, the statement said, while another vehicle found at the scene, which contained 15 kilograms of hashish, a cache of weapons, and forged IDs, is believed to have been used in the Riyaq attack.
The two men had been wanted on earlier warrants for drug trafficking and forming an armed group. The statement said that Jaafar and Jaafar were now under investigation of being involved in an attack last month on Army personnel in Riyaq, which killed four soldiers. Separately, the Internal Security Forces said Friday that 57 people, wanted on various warrants, had been rounded up in various parts of the country.