Lebanon arrests ex-Syrian officer and accomplices accused of planning attacks
Lebanon has arrested a former Syrian colonel and several accomplices who allegedly planned attacks against the forces of Syria's new government, a judicial official told AFP on Wednesday.
The alleged leader of the network is a former Syrian army major general who is close to longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad and who, like the ousted leader, is now based in Moscow, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Lebanese authorities detained "two Lebanese and three Syrians, one of them a former colonel in the (Syrian) intelligence services" and seized "automatic weapons, hand grenades, sniper rifles and explosives" in their possession, the official said.
The network's members received "military training from Hezbollah fighters" in eastern Lebanon, the source added.
Iran-backed Hezbollah was allied with Assad and fought alongside his government's forces during the country's civil war, before Syria's new authorities ousted him in December 2024.
Initial investigations indicate that the accused "were planning to carry out operations against government forces on the Syrian coast," the official said.
The Syrian coast, the heartland of the country's Alawite minority to whom the Assad family belongs, saw sectarian bloodshed in March last year.
Syria and Lebanon have been trying to turn a new page after Assad's ouster and the weakening of Hezbollah.
Lebanese authorities last month extradited to Syria a former Assad-era general accused of crimes including murder and torture.
Source: Agence France Presse
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