These projects, which targeted places of Shiite Muslim worship, were to mark a “tribute” to the leader of the Islamic State killed on the night of February 2 to 3.
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Lebanon claims to have thwarted three planned attacks by the Islamic State group, the interior minister announced during a press conference on Wednesday (February 23rd).
The Jihadist group’s plans involved detonating explosive belts simultaneously in three Shia places of worship in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to the minister. This area is a stronghold of Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite movement supporting Iran and committed against the Islamic State in Syria. This sector of Beirut has been the scene of bloody attacks since 2013, the deadliest of which killed 44 people in 2015.
The attacks were to mark a “tribute” to the leader of IS, Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Kurachi, killed on the night of February 2 to 3 during an operation led by the United States in Syria. They have could have been foiled thanks to an agent who had managed to infiltrate IS networks in Lebanon.