Lebanese Authorities Arrest Majiid al-Majid

BEIRUT – International News – Lebanese authorities have arrested Majiid al-Majid, the reputed head of the jihadist group who claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on Iran’s embassy in November 2013.

Lebanan’s Defence Minister Fayez Ghosn said, “Majid al-Majid, the Saudi emir of the al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades is being held by army intelligence in Beirut”.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television also said Majid was detained “recently”.

The attack on the Iranian embassy killed twenty-three people, including the Iranian cultural attache.

A Salafist cleric close to the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Sheikh Siraj al-Din Zureiqat, had issued a claim of responsibility in its name.

Sheikh Siraj al-Din Zureiqat has also warned attacks would continue in Lebanon until Iranian and Hezbollah forces stopped fighting alongside government forces in Syria.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades are also demanding that the Sunni group’s prisoners be released in Lebanon.