Lebanon Arrests Head of Group that Claimed Attack on Iran Embassy.

Lebanon Arrests Head of Group that Claimed Attack on Iran Embassy.(UOI).

Lebanese Army’s intelligence agents have arrested the leader of an Al-Qaeda linked militant group that claimed a double suicide bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut last November, AFP quoted the Lebanese defense minister as saying.

Majid al-Majid, the “emir” of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, was arrested by the intelligence services of the Lebanese army in Beirut, said Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn. He did not provide any details when the arrest took place. (AFP, 1 January)

“He was wanted by the Lebanese authorities and is currently being interrogated in secret,” the minister added.

In 2009, Lebanese authorities sentenced Majid in absentia to life in prison for belonging to a different extremist group, the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam.

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry also confirmed that Majid, a Saudi citizen, was on a list of 85 suspects wanted by the kingdom. (AFP, 1 January)

The Azzam Brigades, formed in 2009, was designated by the United States as a terrorist organization in 2012, and has in the past claimed responsibility for firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon.