Naharnet

15 Charged for Firing Rockets at Baabda, Beirut's Southern Suburbs

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr on Wednesday charged 15 suspects, seven of whom are in custody, for firing rockets at Baabda and Beirut's southern suburbs.

The seven suspects include two Lebanese and five Syrians, said the state-run National News Agency.

But NNA did not disclose the nationalities of the rest of the network's members who were charged in absentia.

The charges against the 15 suspects include forming an armed terrorist group to carry out terrorist activities, and buying explosives in addition to launching rockets toward Baabda and Beirut's southern suburbs.

If convicted, the suspects face the death penalty.

In May, a pair of rockets slammed into a car dealership and a residential building in the stronghold of Hizbullah in Beirut's southern suburbs, wounding four people.

Later in June, the so-called Ballouneh cell was involved in a failed rocket attack on Yarze and the Baabda area.

Reports had said that the members of the cell intended to target the Defense Ministry in Yarze and the presidential palace in Baabda. But one rocket hit a high-voltage power line in a nearby town and a second rocket failed to launch.

The launchpads were found in the Kesrouan town of Ballouneh.


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