REPORT: Defense Minister: Intelligence bureau arrests suspects involved in Bir al-Abed blast

Caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn declared on Friday that the Intelligence Directorate arrested on the 27th July 2013 Lebanese citizen Hassan Hussein who confessed to being involved, along with Omar Ahmad al-Atrach and others, in implementing terrorist acts and preparing car bombs.

 Ghosn noted in a statement that in information made available to the directorate, some of the suspects are involved in preparing and detonating the car bomb that exploded in Bir al-Abed on the 9th of July 2013, revealing that the vehicle was identified as a Kia that was stolen from the region of Khaldeh on the same day.  

In this context, the caretaker minister also said that the intelligence bureau arrested a Syrian national identified as Houssam Diab Ghanem Abou Halaq who turned out to be involved in the said attack.               

A large explosion rocked a stronghold of the Hezbollah group south of the Lebanese capital Tuesday July 9th, setting several cars on fire and causing an estimated 53 injuries, security officials said.                

The powerful blast came as many among Lebanon's Shiites began observing the holy month of Ramadan, and is the worst explosion to hit the area in years as a direct fallout of the civil war raging in neighboring Syria.              

A similar explosion shook the region of Rueis in the Beirut Southern Suburbs on August 15th, claiming the lives of at least 24 people and wounding around 289 others.

In May, two rockets slammed into the Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut, wounding four people. The rockets struck hours after Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah vowed in a speech to help propel Assad to victory in Syria's civil war.                  

In June, a rocket slammed into the same area, causing no casualties.                

Hezbollah has openly joined the fight in Syria, and the group's fighters were instrumental in a recent regime victory when government forces regained control of the strategic town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border.                  

Lebanon's Sunni Muslims mostly back the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels in Syria, while many Shiites support Assad, who is a member of Syria's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.


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