The ongoing investigation into the emergence of an al-Qaeda network in Lebanon has revealed that members of the cell had plans to establish a military infrastructure in Lebanon with direct links to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, As Safir reported Tuesday. Jordanian born Zarqawi is al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq. Lebanese security forces have uncovered a terrorist network of 13 people suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda and charged them with planning to carry out terrorist operations in various parts of Lebanon. The arrests were made late last year.

The paper said the arrested members confessed to recruiting Lebanese and Palestinian volunteers from northern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa and refugee camps across the country to join militant groups in Iraq. The members added that they planned to send the recruits to militant training camps in neighboring. According to Lebanese security forces quoted by As Safir, they have confiscated weapons, including hand grenades, bombs and machine guns from the arrested militants.

Al-Qaeda has rarely launched attacks in Lebanon, although it has used allied factions to recruit scores of volunteers among Lebanese and Palestinian refugees who went to Iraq to fight. Recently an Iraqi group affiliated with Zarqawi claimed responsibility for three rockets fired from south Lebanon into Israel. A foiled attempt to bomb the Italian embassy in Beirut as well as other foreign diplomatic missions and local institutions in Lebanon in 2004 was blamed on a small militant group with links to al-Qaeda.

The paper went on to say that the security sources expressed fear that the al-Qaeda network had taken a decision to form a base in Lebanon. The sources added that some of those arrested confessed they had been preparing to carry out attacks in Lebanon similar to ones currently taking place in Iraq. The sources said that the Internal Security Forces had taken a decision to boost its anti-terrorism office, mainly in light of the security developments that Lebanon has been witnessing since February 2005 when former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was assassinated.

Lebanon is currently facing one of its worst political and security crises since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. Last year's assassination of Hariri in a massive bomb explosion in Beirut sent shock waves through the country. Since then a wave of assassinations and assassination attempts have swept Lebanon targeting high-ranking public figures. The UN commission of inquiry into Hariri's murder suspected the involvement of Lebanese and Syrian security agencies in Hariri's assassination. The Lebanese blame the Syrian regime for all explosions and murders that have taken place in Lebanon. (with MER)