Report: Lebanon Mulling to Ask for Interpol Help to Track Suspected Terrorists

Lebanese authorities are mulling to ask the international police agency Interpol to provide it with the names of individuals its suspects as terrorists who might plot bombings in Lebanon, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Monday.

The daily said that the possible request could help Lebanon’s security agencies to take greater precautions at Rafik Hariri International Airport and the legal border crossings after the latest bombings that rocked the country involved suicide bombers from outside Lebanon.

Security agencies have already intensified their efforts to control Lebanon's land, air, and maritime borders to stop the infiltration of terrorists, al-Liwaa said Saturday.

The measures include setting up modern surveillance towers to monitor the illegal land crossings.

The legal crossings will meanwhile be equipped with the necessary technology to connect them to main security databases to determine the identity of travelers to and from Lebanon, it said.

A Saudi suicide bomber, Ahmed Abdul Rahman al-Thuwaini, blew himself up at Beirut's Duroy Hotel last Wednesday when General Security forces raided it to arrest him. His accomplice Abdul Rahman al-Shenifi, also a Saudi national, was wounded.

According to information obtained by LBCI television, the investigation revealed that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has claimed responsibility for the bombing, has appointed Abdul Salam al-Ordoni as an emir over Lebanon.

Al-Ordoni has been giving instructions to al-Monzer al-Hasan who is the Lebanese intermediary between the ISIL and the two Saudi suicide bombers, LBCI said on Sunday.

Al-Shenifi told investigators that a Syrian man informed him and his partners in the Turkish city of Istanbul that their mission was to attack security forces and Lebanese soldiers.

But later, al-Hasan asked the two Saudi militants to change their target and instead attack al-Saha Restaurant in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Al-Liwaa quoted sources as saying that security agencies could be cooperating with their Turkish counterparts to monitor the movement of suspects from Turkish airports to Beirut.

The daily also said that security agencies have asked MPs and cabinet ministers to take their extreme precautions and avoid unnecessary trips inside Lebanon over fears they could be the target of suicide attacks.