By Hamza Takeen
BEIRUT
Lebanon's military prosecutor has accused 21 people of belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and plotting terrorist acts in Shiite districts of capital Beirut.
Among those accused are a Frenchman and a Saudi national.
"They belong to the ISIL terrorist organization and were planning to commit terrorist acts in Beirut and its southern suburbs," the indictment, issued by a military prosecutor, read.
"They were planning to carry out suicide bombings with explosive belts to kill as many civilians in Shiite districts as possible in response to Hezbollah's killing of Sunnis in Syria," the document added.
Prosecutors requested the death penalty for Frenchman Fayez Boushran, Saudi national Abdel-Rahman Naser al-Shenefy, and three other Lebanese suspects.
The indictment also requested 15 years in prison with hard labor for six Lebanese suspects, and three-month sentences for three others.
"According to the indictment, al-Shenefy admitted to planning to blow himself up at the Al-Saha restaurant in southern Beirut," a judicial source told Anadolu Agency.
"Boushran, a French national who hails from Comoros, was arrested in Beirut's Napoleon Hotel in January and had been planning to carry out bombings against Shiite targets for their [Hezbollah's] involvement in Syria," the source said.
The Syria conflict, now in its fourth year, continues to fuel sectarian tension inside Lebanon, with Shiite Hezbollah's ongoing military support for the Syrian regime drawing condemnation from local Sunni groups.
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