Pamela Engel

A woman who writes for a news magazine in Paris went undercover as a young Muslim convert to infiltrate the Islamic State’s online network of jihadists looking for brides. "Anna Erelle" (not her real name) talked to The Sunday Times of London about how she got involved with a top ISIS militant. It’s unclear whether the Times independently verified her story.

Erelle told the Times that she created fake social media accounts and posed as "Melodie" online to find out first-hand how young girls are lured to join ISIS’ ranks in the Middle East as "jihadi brides." She said she had previously interviewed some of these girls during her work as a journalist.

"They knew very little about religion. They had hardly read a book and they learnt jihad before religion," Erelle told the Times. "They’d tell me, ‘You think with your head, we think with our hearts.’ They had a romantic view of radicalism. I wondered how that happened."

  The Lebanese army has arrested an Australian citizen in the northern Koura district on suspicion of having ties with terrorist groups, the state-run National News Agency reported. T.H. was apprehended by the army intelligence at his house in the area of Dahr al-Ain on Sunday night, it said. The agency did not give further […]

  BEIRUT: Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr charged with terrorism Monday a Syrian man who the Army said had made "important confessions" related to attacks on military and civilian targets in Lebanon. The defendant, Hasan Jamil Harba, was referred to the judiciary Saturday after allegedly confessing to terror plots and the activities of his fellow jihadis. […]

  BEIRUT: Rats and pigeons will no longer be able to penetrate the grain silos at the Beirut Port, Economy Minister Alain Hakim assured Monday after a visit to the facility. However, a Daily Star photographer witnessed pigeons feeding on wheat that was poured from the silos into the open beds of delivery trucks. “The […]

  The death penalty has been demanded against four people in the 2013 murder of pro-Syrian regime journalist Mohammed Darrar Jammo. Judge Mounif Barakat ordered the death sentence against his wife Siham Younes, her nephew Ali Khalil Younes, her brother Badie Mohammed Younes, and her daughter Fatima. Jammo was killed on July 17, 2013 in […]

  The head of the Beirut Port Authority Hassan Qoraytem is expected to visit Bkirki on Thursday to defend his decision to fill the controversial fourth basin at the port, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported. The daily said Qoraytem will hold talks with Bishop Boulos Sayyah, who is expected to reiterate to the port official that Christian […]

  BEIRUT: Some 1,000 individuals have been arrested in February for involvement in terrorism as well as shootings, smuggling and drug trafficking, the Lebanese Army has announced. "As a result of security measures [adopted] in various areas of Lebanon during the month of February, military units apprehended about 945 individuals of different nationalities,” the military […]

  Beirut: Journalist May Chidiac, Lama Salam, wife of Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Leila Machnouk wife of Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk at the opening on Wednesday of the May Chidiac Foundation’s the third “Women on the Front Lines” convention at the Phoenicia Hotel. Chidiac spoke at the conference on the long history of women’s […]

  The members of the committee tasked with following up on the dialogue between Bkirki and Hizbullah met again in Beirut’s southern suburbs – Dahiyeh to follow up their latest meeting in February. According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Wednesday, talks focused on the importance of electing a new head of state and fears of […]

  Some Lebanese officials are reportedly exerting efforts to hand over the data of a Geological Survey for the country’s offshore gas and oil in the North to Norway’s Petroleum Commission. According to As Safir newspaper published on Wednesday, the move could have hidden intentions such as an attempt to draw the attention of new […]