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.

Several members of the cell once belonged to the group of the fugitive Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, who, following his attack on the Lebanese army in Abra in the Sidon suburbs in 2013, was sentenced to death. The Abra incident killed 18 Lebanese soldiers and wounded 100 more. In the wake of these events, Assir's movement was dismantled and he escaped. The cell's members were attempting to implement Assir's previous plans.

Investigations uncovered a connection between the Sidon cell and the terrorist groups that led the recent battle against the Lebanese army in Tripoli, mainly Ahmad Salim Mikati’s group. The groups had coordinated actions, and their members traveled between the south and north to meet and plan. The investigations further showed that terrorist cells in Akkar are communicating with radical groups based out of the Palestinian Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp near Sidon, such as the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.