Interior Minister Mawlawi

Beirut (AFP) – Lebanon has thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to carry out three suicide bombings targeting Shiite religious compounds in Beirut's southern suburbs, the interior ministry said Wednesday. "A terrorist group had recruited young Palestinian men in Lebanon to carry out major bombing attacks using explosive belts" and other munitions, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi told a press conference. "Three separate targets were to be hit at the same time," the ministry said, in an operation Mawlawi said would have caused significant loss of life. Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) said the instructions for the bomb plot came from an IS operative based in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, who is in touch with fellow Sunni extremists in Syria. The instructions were passed to an undercover agent recruited by the ISF to infiltrate IS networks in Lebanon.

On February 7, the agent was instructed to prepare attacks on a Shiite religious compound in the Al-Laylaki neighbourhood, the Imam al-Kazem compound in Haret Hreik and the Al-Nasser religious centre in Beirut's Ouzai suburb, the ISF said. He was given three explosive vests and other weapons to conduct the attacks on February 16, the ISF added. Security forces have since identified four suspected militants residing in the Ain al-Hilweh camp who are believed to have been involved in the bomb plot. Mawlawi said two suspects had been arrested, although he did not specify whether they were among the four identified in Ain al-Hilweh. The camp outside the main southern city of Sidon is the largest Palestinian settlement in Lebanon. It has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and other fugitives. By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the country's camps, leaving security inside in the hands of Palestinian factions.

by alaraby.co.uk -- Lebanese singer and former The Voice France contestant Hiba Tawaji is due to perform in Syria, an announcement that has angered Syrian fans, many unable to return to their homes in Assad-held areas due to threats to their safety. Tawaji - well known for her songs Solidaritè and La Bidaye Wala Nihaye - is due to perform at the Damascus Opera House on 9 and 10 March, officially named the Dar Al-Assad for Culture and Arts after Syria's ruling family. It will be the first time the soprano has performed in Syria for 15 years, according to a tweet posted by the singer. Some have branded the upcoming show "shameful" as during the past decade Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has launched a brutal assault on opposition areas, killing at least 500,000 people, mostly civilians from regime shelling and bombing.

Tens of thousands of detainees - many of them pro-democracy protesters jailed at the start of the 2011 uprising - have disappeared in regime prisons, many feared dead from torture and disease. "Mazzeh prison is only 10 minutes away, I hope the cry of the Syrians tortured under the orders of the president who gave his name to the Opera will not cover your voice," one Twitter user wrote. Other Syrians - many exiled from their home country - have struggled to understand why the singer agreed to perform in the capital, which is controlled by a regime widely condemned for sickening acts of violence against men, women and children. "Shame on you! Singing on a floor covered with hundred thousands innocent Syrian’s blood," another user, Nadia, wrote. "Shame now has a voice," another tweeter, Ammar, wrote. Some fans commenting on Tawaji's Facebook post appeared excited about the event. "We're waiting for you and love you so much," one fan Rana Aoun wrote, as others showered the singer with well wishes and good luck messages. "May happiness return to Syria," Facebook user Sandy Alroom commented.

بعد تفكيك شبكات التجسس، قوى الامن الداخلي تحبط عمليات ارهابية خطيرة، الف تحية لشعبة المعلومات. الدولة تحمي الجميع والدولة فقط !

by breitbart.com -- “We cannot continue like this in Lebanon,” Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï said during his Sunday homily. The rulers “to whom are entrusted the future of the country, public money, the ports, the autonomous offices, and relations with other countries cannot continue to waste, block, and contribute to the collapse and emigration of the population.” “You cannot continue to destroy the country and impoverish its population despite the appeals launched by the whole world,” he declared, recalling that the pope himself has repeatedly made similar appeals.

The head of the Maronite Church pleaded for Lebanon to “exit from its political, economic, financial, vital and social collapse.” Officials “are sticking to their positions, destroying the country voluntarily or involuntarily and blocking the progress of the state and its institutions,” the cardinal said. “The time of hostility and divisions is over.” “The time of militias trying to bring us back to a page that has been turned is over,” he continued, in an implicit swipe at Hezbollah, which claimed to have launched a drone over Israel on Friday. “We are a united family, which has a role and a message in the East and we must know how to play this role again.”