General Security have arrested three Lebanese men in north Lebanon accused of forming a network to recruit and send fighters to ISIS [Daesh] in Syria and Iraq, according to a report published Wednesday.
Al-Akhbar newspaper said the arrests were carried out by the Intelligence Division of General Security in three separate raids in Tripoli and the northern province of Akkar.
It said T.H. was apprehended in the Mankoubeen area in Tripoli and W. A. in the Akkar village of Tal Maayan over the past 48 hours.
Al-Akhbar, citing information made available to security sources, said T.H. has dual Lebanese-Swedish citizenship.
The third suspect, identified as O.Gh., was arrested Tuesday in the Tripoli neighborhood of Bab al-Ramel.
A security source had confirmed to The Daily Star that General Security Tuesday arrested Omar Ghannoum, a prominent ISIS militant in Bab al-Ramel. He is accused of recruiting young Lebanese men to join ISIS.
The sources said similar ISIS networks were being monitored by Lebanese authorities.
The Daily Star could not immediately verify the report.
Hundreds of people from the north are believed to have joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.
Occasionally, information is leaked stating that one has been killed in north Syria or Iraq. Their families are informed by a call from ISIS, telling them that their child has been killed, and buried according to Islamic law.
As more young people become affiliated with extremist groups in Tripoli, suspicion has grown among the city’s residents over people leaving the country for places like Turkey which has been seen as an entryway into Syria to join ISIS.
