REPORT: Al-Atrash, Daftardar worked for same terrorist organization

Sources told LBCI on Friday that Jamal Daftardar and Omar al-Atrash worked for the same terrorist organization, but without coordinating with one another.

The sources added that al-Atrash started his work with the help of the Syrian refugees, adding that when he visited Syria, he met with officials of al-Nusra Front who recruited and trained him.

The Lebanese Army Intelligence arrested Omar al-Atrash Friday January 24, on charges of being involved in recruiting suicide bombers, smuggling rigged cars and explosive belts and planning terrorist attacks that have recently rocked the southern suburb of Beirut and Hermel.

On Sunday 25 January, al-Atrash confessed to bringing car bombs, explosive belts and suicide bombers to Lebanon.

Similarly, LAF Intelligence arrested, Jamal Daftardar, a leader of an al Qaeda-linked militant group, in a raid on his hideout in the Bekaa town of Kamed el-Laouz on Wednesday January 15.

Jamal Daftardar, was one of the leading figures in the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a group operating in Lebanon which claimed responsibility for a bombing on the Iranian embassy in November which killed at least 23.

In January, three car bomb attacks, implemented by suicide bombers, have rocked areas that are considered Hezbollah strongholds in the country. Two bombings hit the Beirut southern suburb region of Haret Hreik, while another bomb attack targeted the Bekaa town of Hermel.