Several Christian youth who hail from the northern coastal city of Tripoli have reportedly converted to Islam and pledged allegiance to the al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front similar to Elie al-Warraq, who was detained by the military intelligence.

Al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday that al-Warraq, 22, who resides in Tripoli and hails from the northern district of Akkar, converted to extremist Islam and pledged allegiance to al-Nusra Front similar to other youth in the northern city.

The daily said that western intelligence is also pursuing a Christian Lebanese man who converted to Islam and arrived in Beirut a month ago.

“We are a patriotic family,” Tony al-Warraq, Elie's father, said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

He stressed that the family supports the state and the army, expressing surprise at Elie's behavior and describing it as “abnormal.”

“We obtained information recently that a group tried to involve him in a security act.”

Tony expressed gratitude to the army intelligence for detaining Elie “before he got involved in any security act,” considering his son a “victim of ideas that some people planted in his mind.”

Elie, who is also known as Abou Ali, according to An Nahar newspaper confessed that he was involved in a scheme targeting several areas in Akkar and Tripoli.

He also testified to the military intelligence with hefty information that helped in foiling terrorist schemes.

Al-Warraq was detained along with Bassam Hussam al-Naboush and Syrian national Muhannad Ali Mohammed Abdul Qader, who were plotting to carry out terrorist operations against army posts and residential neighborhoods, the Army Command said in a communique issued on Thursday.

The army said that they were moving around the country with fake Syrian and Palestinian IDs.

As Safir newspaper reported that Elie's family is not certain if he converted to Islam or not as his relatives stressed that he repeatedly denied any ties with extremist groups.

However, Elie's close acquaintances expressed belief that he converted to Islam without registering that at state institutions, revealing that he recited the Quran on several occasions.

Elie has recently traveled to Turkey for a month on a sudden, leaving his training at the Internal Security Forces. He headed to Turkey again after a while and stayed their for two months.

Sources estimated in comments to As Safir that Elie moved from Turkey into Syria during that time.

Elie and al-Naboush have been under close surveillance by the security forces before they were arrested.

The charges against the three detainees involve “pledging allegiance to terrorist groups, taking part in combat in Syria, attacking the (Lebanese) army, and participating in the clashes between the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh districts of Tripoli.”

Last weekend, two suicide bombers who hail from Tripoli's al-Mankoubeen targeted a packed cafe in Jabal Mohsen, killing nine and wounding 37 others.

H.K.

G.K.