Syria hands over man suspected of bomb attacks on fast food outlets

SYRIA has handed over to neighbouring Lebanon a man suspected of belonging to a gang blamed for a string of bomb attacks against Western fast food outlets, a senior judicial official said yesterday.

Lebanese officials have said members of the network attacked fast food restaurants, including McDonald’s and Pizza Hut, and that they also planned to kill US ambassador Vincent Battle in the northern city of Tripoli. However, the official said the man turned over from Syria, a Lebanese citizen, had no direct links to the Battle plot. His brother, an army draftee, was also being held over the restaurant blasts.

Palestinian and Lebanese security sources said authorities had arrested three Palestinians suspected of links to the bomb attacks. They were taken overnight in a security clampdown as they tried to enter the Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli.

Judicial sources said Lebanon formally charged eight more men, including two Palestinians, in connection with the bombing spree, bringing the total charged in the case to more than 25.

Two of them were also charged with planning to bomb the US ambassador’s convoy during a visit to Tripoli in Libya and with planning to attack the US embassy in Beirut with missiles. The Lebanese army said at the weekend it had arrested the head of the network blamed for the restaurant attacks.

Lebanese authorities stepped up arrests after a large bomb was found in a car outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Beirut in April. It failed to explode.

Anti-US sentiment is strong in Lebanon over US backing for arch-foe Israel, and has risen during a Palestinian uprising and the US-led war on Iraq.

Lebanon and Syria, which has broad influence over the Lebanese army, judiciary and security services, are under pressure to show they are co-operating with Washington, especially in its “war on terrorism”.