January 2, 2014 | Quoted by Anne Barnard, The New York Times
Lebanon Arrests Leader of Qaeda-Linked Group, Reports Say
The Lebanese military authorities have detained the Saudi leader of a Sunni militant group linked to Al Qaeda that claimed responsibility for a double suicide bomb attack on the Iranian Embassy in Beirut in November, according to Lebanese news media.
The militant, Majid bin Muhammad al-Majid, is the head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an offshoot of Al Qaeda. He was taken into custody just three days after Saudi Arabia pledged a $3 billion aid package to the Lebanese Army. The gift was widely seen as a Saudi attempt to counter the influence of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia and political party that is allied with the Shiite government of Iran and with Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.
The detention, which American national security officials confirmed to news agencies, provoked an array of political responses in the region — the latest sign that the power struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which is helping to drive the bloody war in Syria, is intensifying in neighboring Lebanon.
An Iranian national security official, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, on Wednesday praised the Lebanese security forces for apprehending Mr. Majid, and blamed him for the embassy bombing. He also urged the Lebanese government to consider the fact that “the main element in the operation is of Saudi nationality,” Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency reported.
While there was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia, there is little sympathy in its government for Mr. Majid, who is on its list of people most wanted for links with Al Qaeda. A Lebanese newspaper, Al Safir, wrote that he was “wanted by Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and several other Western countries, mainly the United States.”
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which has also claimed responsibility for attacks in Egypt and Jordan, was formed in the crucible of the Iraqi insurgency in cooperation with Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Qaeda franchise there. That was done on orders from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Sunni militant who was subsequently killed by American troops, according to the Long War Journal, a website that follows counterterrorism efforts.