Court blames North Lebanon twin-bombing on Syrian regime officers

Lebanon's military tribunal on Friday accused Syrian regime officers of involvement in the 2013 twin-bombings that targeted mosques during crowded Friday prayers, in the Sunni-majority city of Tripoli, North Lebanon.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

02 September, 2016

The twin-bombing was the deadliest attack in Lebanon in decades [AFP]

Lebanon's military tribunal on Friday officially accused Syrian regime officers of involvement in the 2013 twin bombings that targeted mosques during crowded Friday prayers, in the Sunni-majority city of Tripoli, North Lebanon.

Judge Alaa Khatib of the tribunal named Syrian intelligence officers Mohammad Ali Ali from the notorious Palestine Branch and Nasser Joubeen from the Political Security Directorate, according to Lebanon's state-owned National News Agency.

Tripoli's residents are known for their hostility to the Syrian regime, which occupied the city during Lebanon's own civil war, and have supplied fighters to the Syrian rebellion on the side of the Free Syrian Army as well as jihadist groups.

The 44-page indictment said the orders to detonate bombs outside the al-Taqwa and al-Salam mosques in Tripoli originated from a high-level security agency in the Syrian intelligence apparatus, according to the NNA.

The twin car bombing, which took place on August 23, 2013, killed at least 42 people and wounded more than 400 others.

The court also indicted Lebanese suspects from the Jabal Mohsen district of Tripoli. Jabal Mohsen is dominated by Alawites, the same sect to which President Bashar al-Assad of Syria belongs.

After the indictment was published, former Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi called for the expulsion of the Syrian regime ambassador in Beirut and for Lebanon to sever ties with Damascus.