LATEST: Opposition Coalition Calls on Europe to Put Assad Regime on Terror List

SUNDAY FEATURE

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The Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra, prominent in Syria’s civil war, has claimed a double suicide bombing on Saturday in Tripoli in northern Lebanon.

The attack at a cafe in the mainly-Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen killed nine people and wounded more than 30. One bomber detonated a vest with 4 kilograms (about 9 pounds) of explosives after getting into the building; the other set off his after he was denied entry.

The Lebanese Army identified the two attackers as Taha Samir al-Khayal, 22, and Bilal Mohammad al-Mariyan, 29.
Security sources said they were Lebanese and had trained in Syria’s Qalamoun region on the border with Lebanon. The source added that they were supporters of two “terrorists”, Shadi Mawlawi and Osama Mansour, wanted for attacks on Lebanese military posts.

Residents of Jabal Mohsen, supportive of the Assad regime, have had deadly clashes in nearby Bab al-Tabbaneh, an area backing the Syrian opposition. The cafe belonged to the mainly-Alawite Arab Democratic Party.

Saturday’s explosion is the first serious breach of a security plan implemented in June 2014 between the neighborhoods.

On Sunday, the Lebanese military deployed patrols and erected checkpoints across Tripoli.

(Featured Photo: AFP)


Opposition Coalition Calls on Europe to Put Assad Regime on Terror List

The opposition Syrian National Coalition has called on European Union leaders to put the Assad regime on their terrorism list.

The EU heads have scheduled a meeting for February 12 on the response to the challenge of terrorism.

Coalition spokesman Salim al-Meslet, spokesman for the Syrian Coalition, said:

The Assad regime’s record in overseeing and building of terrorist cells and organizations is very well documented by global and human rights networks. The world should no longer turn a blind eye to Assad’s two-pronged terrorism: one internal using barrel bombs and chemical weapons, and the other external through recruiting and training of extremists in secret camps on Syrian territory.

Meslet claimed, “The international community’s ignorance of Assad’s role in manufacturing of extremist organization such as the Islamic State has had catastrophic consequences on Syria and the entire region.”