TRIPOLI, Lebanon: A senior ISIS member in Tripoli and five other wanted suspects were arrested by authorities during a weekend security sweep in north Lebanon, a security source said. The source told The Daily Star that a senior ISIS official was arrested by General Security in the Mina neighborhood of Tripoli Saturday evening, after being monitored by security forces. The man, identified as Ibrahim Barakat, is said to be the ISIS Emir in Tripoli and the jurist responsible for issuing fatwas on behalf of the group in the northern city. The source said that Barakat is responsible for recruiting several fighters to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq and is also in daily contact with the ISIS command in the two countries. Meanwhile, Lebanese army soldiers, backed by armored vehicles, fanned out across Tripoli's notorious Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood and beefed up security measures in areas that were previously viewed as strongholds for notorious Islamist militants Shadi Mawlawi and his partner Osama Mansour, who was shot dead by security forces last month. The Army also arrested one Lebanese national and three Syrians in the town Bakhoun during a raid in the north Lebanon district of Dinnieh. The arrest came one day after a wanted fugitive, Abu Khalil Soueid, was apprehended in the area. Soldiers seized a number of weapons and ammunition from the suspect. Sunday's raid targeted the residence of Soueid's wife in Dinnieh. The four suspects taken into custody all resided in the same building. The woman however, was nowhere to be found. The weekend arrests are the latest in a campaign targeting suspected militants with alleged links to notorious militant Osama Mansour and radical preacher Khaled Hoblos who were targeted by security forces last month. According to a security source, roughly 30 suspected militants have been apprehended in north Lebanon since Mansour and his partner Ahmad al-Nather were killed in an Internal Security Forces operation in Tripoli.
