ISIS had initially sent 5 bombers for Lebanon attacks: Machnouk

ISIS had initially planned to target a hospital in the southern suburbs of Beirut Thursday by using four instead of two suicide bombers, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Sunday.

“The Information Branch recorded an exceptional achievement and was able to arrest within 48 hours the entire network that stood behind the Burj al-Barajneh bombings”. There was mayhem. When Termos noticed a second suicide bomber preparing to attack, he made a split-second decision to tackle the assailant. Machnouk says the attack was to involve five suicide bombers, but one was detained and two did not enter Lebanon.

“The Lebanese have proven that there is no environment that nurtures terrorism in Lebanon”.

“We must realize this fact and work on that basis to protect the Lebanese form the criminal takfiris”.

A security source said that the attack was a direct message that spreads fears and anger, following the direct Russian involvement and the gains of the Syrian regime on the ground against the rebels, not to mention the political development in Vienna conference and the real prospects of finding a political solution to the crisis. “I hope that this achievement paves way for a serious political dialogue”, he concluded.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Syrian and Lebanese detainees were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the bombings, which he squarely blamed on Islamic State.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack on its Twitter account, vowing “more attacks against Hezbollah”.

In separate messages of condolences on Friday, Larijani strongly condemned the slaughter of innocent people in the recent suicide bombings in the Lebanese capital, which claimed more than 40 lives.