Lebanon’s interior minister: Shooting by ex-ISIS member is an ‘individual case’

Lebanon’s interior minister says a gunman was working alone when he went on a shooting spree that killed four security personnel in the northern city of Tripoli.

Minister Raya al-Hassan says the shooting by the man identified as a former member of ISIS extremist group, Abdul-Rahman Mabsout, is an “individual case” and the situation is under control.

She spoke to reporters in Tripoli Tuesday, hours after Mabsout, riding a motorcycle, opened fire on police and army vehicles in the city, killing two police officers and two soldiers before breaking into a residential building and hiding there.

He later detonated an explosive belt when confronted by troops.

The rare shooting, which began late Monday, shook the predominantly Sunni Muslim coastal city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

According to Internal Security Forces chief Imad Othman, the assailant, Abdel-Rahman Mabsout, was an Islamist who fought with ISIS in Syria.

He was arrested by Lebanese security forces on terrorism charges in 2016 and was released from Roumieh Prison in late 2017.