REPORT: Military investigative Judge issues arrest warrant against...

3^min

Military investigative Judge Imad Zein issued on Thursday an arrest warrant against Imad and Ahmed Jomaa following a four-hour interrogation session.

Judge Zein will also interrogate other detainees and defendants later on.

Imad Ahmed Jomaa, a member of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front was interrogated on Thursday at the Military Tribunal.

Following the hearing, his lawyer Tareq Shandab said that his client denied his affiliation to the Islamic State.

Last week, the interrogation of Jomaa, who is being held on terror-related charges, was postponed.

Military Investigative Judge Imad Zein postponed the interrogation session after Jomaa’s lawyer filed a motion saying that confessions by Jomaa and 42 other suspects – charged with belonging to terrorist groups, killing Lebanese soldiers and kidnapping others – were made under duress.

The lawyer also complained that his defendant had been beaten and was denied medical care.

Jomaa's arrest at a Lebanese army checkpoint led to clashes on August 2 between the army and Islamist militants in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

The clashes left at least 20 soldiers dead and 86 injured, while at least 30 ISF and LAF soldiers remain missing, presumably kidnapped by the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front militants.

On Thursday (August 07), a military source stated that a truce in Arsal appeared to be holding and the situation in the border town was quiet.

The Muslim Scholars Committee had launched an initiative to ensure the return of the kidnapped soldiers and served as a mediator between the gunmen and the Lebanese authorities.

Later on, the Association declared that it will suspend all activities to make way for other sides to deploy efforts in this regard.

The gunmen had issued a list of demands, which include the release of several Islamist inmates from the infamous Roumieh prison. A demand the interior minister had rejected.

Lebanese security officials say the fighters include members of al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, and an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State, which has seized swathes of land in Syria and Iraq.

For more details, watch Nada Andraos' full report in the video above