Lebanon Charges Accused Daesh Commander

Ahmed Ammoun was charged with killing and wounding soldiers during clashes with the army in Arsal, where he was arrested.

Saqr also charged him with killing a member of the police intelligence as well as assassinating a defected Syrian colonel from the Rifai family.

Ammoun was also charged for his alleged involvement in bombings which took place in the southern suburbs of Beirut in 2014 and a bombing that targeted the eastern Bekaa region one year earlier, the Daily Star reproted.

Members of Lebanon's Military Intelligence ambushed Ammoun's vehicle on Arsal's outskirts on Feb. 22, prompting a gun fight.

Ammoun is a distant relative of Walid Ammoun, another Daesh suspect, arrested earlier this month over the killing of Zaher Ezzedine, the police intelligence member.

Walid Ammoun was captured during a massive army offensive inside Arsal on Feb. 3 that left six suspected Daesh militants dead. Sixteen were arrested in total, 13 of whom were later charged.

Daesh militants, as well as fighters who belong to the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, have been holed up in the rugged and restive outskirts of Arsal for nearly two years.

The Lebanese Army has pounded their hideouts on a nearly daily basis since January 2015 to keep them at bay.