Palestinian Detained over Ties to Costa Would-Be Bomber

The Lebanese army intelligence units arrested in south Lebanon , a Palestinian man over suspicion of having ties to a would-be suicide attacker who attempted to carry out a terror operation in Beirut's upscale Hamra neighborhood earlier this year, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

The detainee identified as Hassan Majdi Obeid was arrested in al-Zahrani's Sarafand area, NNA added.

He is a friend and a co-worker of failed suicide-bomber Omar al-Assi.

Both have worked at the Hammoud Hospital University Medical Center in Sidon.

Security forces arrested al-Assi, inside the Costa cafe in one of the busiest neighborhoods in the capital Beirut.

Wearing an explosive bomb belt, the man had been detained by authorities after entering the coffee shop in Hamra in west Beirut.