Warnings about attacks targeting Hezbollah ties in Lebanon unheeded

A Western intelligence agency gave Lebanese government authorities audio evidence that al-Qaeda-style militants were planning attacks on targets related to Hezbollah over the past two weeks, but the warnings, which were passed to Hezbollah, failed to prevent Tuesday's bombing of the Iranian embassy.

The warning was first reported by the Lebanese newspaper al Safir. Lebanese and Western intelligence officials have confirmed the report.

The report did not identify the Western intelligence agency, but it said that audio the agency gave to the Lebanese government caught a Saudi organiser with links to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) attempting to co-ordinate an attack with a local militant group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades. The targets were associated with Hezbollah and Iran in retaliation for their support for the government of President Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria.

According to a local security official, the captured conversation was between Ahmed al-Suedi, a Saudi national who's been described as AQAP's liaison and co-ordinator in Lebanon, and Abdullah Azzam's top leader, Majed al-Majed.

"We were given a specific warning about these men and a plot," the security official said. "That information was passed on to all important parties as we are obligated to do as the Lebanese government."

The Lebanese newspaper said that parts of the warning might have gone unheeded because of confusion over whether the plot would involve a suicide bomber or a booby-trapped car. Tuesday's attack, which killed more than 20 people, featured a suicide bomber on a motorcycle that struck the security checkpoint in front of the embassy. A second suicide bomber then drove an explosives-laden car through the checkpoint and towards the embassy before detonating, killing onlookers and emergency personnel who had reacted to the first explosion.