BEIRUT — Security sources in the south revealed to Al-Monitor that a terrorist cell's planned attacks on Shiite and army targets in south Lebanon's capital, Sidon, were thwarted after the Lebanese army arrested members of the "Sidon Cell" on Oct. 29, as part of a pre-emptive operation that spared Lebanon a new security blow. The sources said that the cell had planned its attacks for Nov. 4, when Shiites commemorate Ashoura.
During the investigations, members of the cell admitted that they planned to target the Fatima al-Zahraa Mosque in the mostly Shiite town of Haret Sidon. The group also planned to target the army's intelligence center in Sidon’s port and assassinate several sheikhs, including Sheikh Maher Hammoud, the imam of Sidon's Al-Quds Mosque known for his religious moderation and condemnations of radicalism. The group also planned to assassinate Hezbollah officials and members of the group's arm in Sidon, the Resistance Brigades, and also carry out suicide attacks and burn down Shiite-owned shops.