Lebanon arrests Syrian IS suspect planning attacks on churches, Shiite sites

Lebanon says Monday it arrested a Syrian suspected of links to the Islamic State group who was plotting attacks on Christian and Shiite sites in the south of the country.

The Internal Security Forces (ISF) says they “tracked down and identified a man in southern Lebanon who actively publishes IS propaganda on social media networks and recruits new members” for the jihadist group.

The suspect, a 20-year-old Syrian national from the south Lebanon village of Yater, was in contact with people abroad who helped him set up social networking sites to disseminate IS propaganda, it says in a statement.

He also used the sites to discuss plans to carry out IS attacks on churches — inspired by the deadly Easter bombings in Sri Lanka — and Shiite religious centers, it adds.

According to the ISF, the suspect had shared an IS video published in April purporting to show the group’s supremo Abu Bakr al Baghdadi hailing the Sri Lanka bombings.

He also downloaded a manual compiled by followers of the jihadist group instructing readers on how to build explosives, the statement adds.

— AFP