Lebanese soldiers stationed on armored vehicles at the entrance of the border village of Naqoura, on Jan. 7, 2025, following the Israeli withdrawal from the area. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army announced Tuesday that it had arrested a man described as the head of the Islamic State group (IS) in Lebanon.
"Following a series of surveillance operations ..., the Directorate of Intelligence arrested the citizen R.F., nicknamed ‘Qassoura,’ an important leader of the terrorist organization Daesh [IS],” the army said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for IS. It added that a “large quantity of weapons and war ammunition was seized in his possession, along with electronic devices and materials intended for drone manufacturing.”
According to the army, the suspect assumed leadership of IS in Lebanon after the arrest of his predecessor, known as Abu Said al-Shami, and several senior members of the group on Dec. 27, 2024.
The army said the arrested man was “involved in planning” attacks, but did not specify where the arrest took place.
Media reports in March had indicated the arrest of Abu Said al-Shami, though the military had not commented on the operation until now. That operation led to the detention of “thirty” people in northern Lebanon, the army said.
Of approximately 70 individuals affiliated with the group, 30 were arrested in various parts of northern Lebanon, according to local daily al-Liwa.
The announcement comes just days after a suicide bombing at a church in neighboring Syria killed at least 25 people. Syrian authorities blamed the attack on IS and quickly apprehended individuals connected to the attack and the group.
Though IS has a more limited presence in Lebanon compared with Syria and Iraq, the group and other jihadist factions have clashed with the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah over the past decade — mainly in the country’s north and east. They were largely defeated in Lebanon in 2017.
