BEIRUT/HERMEL: The Lebanese Army arrested Wednesday a commander in the Al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades after raiding a Bekaa Valley residence. During the raid the Army also shot and killed a second suspect allegedly involved in aiding the leader of the brigades. The raid came weeks after the military apprehended the group’s Saudi leader, Majid al-Majid, who died on Jan. 4 from complications arising from multiple illnesses at a military hospital in Beirut, days after his arrest.

 

The Al-Qaeda offshoot claimed reasonability for the Nov. 19 suicide attacks near the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, which killed 30 people including an Iranian diplomat. The military said in a statement that the Army Intelligence apprehended a commander in the Al-Qaeda-linked group, identified as Jamal Daftardar, after its personnel raided a residence in the Bekaa Valley town of Kamed al-Loz. [Link]