Lebanon identifies ISIL terrorists behind Tripoli blasts

Lebanon has identified two ISIL Takfiri terrorists who killed more than seven people and wounded at least 36 others in a grenade and bomb attack on a café in the Lebanese second city of Tripoli.

Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said on Sunday that the Saturday explosions, which targeted the Omran café in the neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, were carried out by the ISIL terrorists, contradicting an earlier claim of responsibility by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.

An army statement released the name of the two Lebanese bombers as Taha Samir al-Khayal, 20, and 26-year-old Bilal Mohammad al-Maraiyan.

They were both residents of the Mankubeen district of Tripoli known for its support for the militants fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Over the past months, Tripoli has been rocked by turmoil due to the foreign-backed militancy in Syria.

The conflict in Syria has pitted pro-Assad residents of Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen neighborhood against people of Bab al-Tabbaneh, who support foreign-backed militants operating against the government in Syria.

Lebanon has also witnessed terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Rockets fired by militants from inside the Syrian territory have landed in parts of Lebanon near its border with Syria.