BEIRUT: Ten men were convicted Tuesday of crimes that included operating a terror cell and targeting the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon.
A military court said the men – five Lebanese and five Palestinians – possessed weapons and homemade explosives that they threw in the streets in an attempt to kill UNIFIL peacekeepers.
A judicial source told The Daily Star that the events in question took place in the late 1990s.
Lebanese citizens Mohammad Assi Shouman and Mohammadeddine Tarha were each sentenced to one year in prison, while Ibrahim Mousa al-Bunni received a three year sentence.
The other two Lebanese men, Mohammad Khalil and Hasan Youssef Nawfal, who are at large, were sentenced to life in prison.
Palestinian Fadi Ibrahim was sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor, and Maher al-Saadi was sentenced to five years. Palestinians Mohammad Ibrahim Medlawi and Jamaleddine Qambaz were each given three years in prison.
Charges were officially dropped against Palestinian Abdel-Rahman Awad, a leader of Fatah al-Islam, as he died in a shootout with the Lebanese Army in August 2010.
A UNIFIL spokesperson declined to comment on the convictions.
The convictions come on the same day as a bomb threat against Beirut’s Gefinor Center, which houses the offices of UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration. Tuesday morning a cleaner spotted a flier warning of a 1 p.m. explosion, according to the National News Agency. The offices were evacuated and after a search security forces found no explosives.
Last week the NNA reported that leaflets reading “There will be an explosion” were dropped in the UNICEF office and the empty leaflet box was thrown in the International Center for Migration. The Gefinor Center offices were evacuated but no explosive materials were found. The NNA said the ISF is currently pursuing the culprit, who has been identified.
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