17 People Charged with Plotting Attacks on Army, U.N. Troops
Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr on Wednesday charged 17 suspected members of a "terrorist network" with plotting to attack the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers stationed in the south.
"The network is charged with aiming to… undermine the authority of the state and monitor the Lebanese army and UNIFIL in order to carry out attacks on them," the state-run National News Agency said.
Seven suspects were charged in absentia, a judicial source told Agence France Presse. The network is led by a Syrian and includes two Lebanese and seven Palestinians, the source added.
If tried and convicted, they could face life in prison.
Among those still at large are Abdel Rahman Awad and Abdel Ghani Jawhar of Fatah al-Islam, an al-Qaida inspired militant group that fought a bloody 15-week war with the army in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in 2007.
Awad reportedly succeeded Shaker Abssi as the group”s leader, and Jawhar is wanted in connection with a chain of deadly bus bombings in 2008 targeting the Lebanese army in the northern port city of Tripoli.