Detained Abdullah Azzam Brigades chief "in poor health"

An Al-Qaeda-linked Saudi suspect detained in Lebanon is being held in a military hospital because "he is in poor health", a medical official told AFP Friday.

Another official familiar with the investigation said the interrogation of Majed al-Majed "has been delayed because he is in poor health," and that the suspect is being "heavily guarded" at the Baabda military hospital near Beirut.

According to the medical source, who had been treating al-Majed before his arrest without knowing who he was, he suffers from kidney failure and requires regular dialysis.

"On December 27, the hospital where Majed was being treated contacted the Red Cross to arrange his transfer to another hospital," said the source.
But before the suspect arrived at the second facility, "the Lebanese army intelligence intercepted the ambulance and arrested Majed," the source said, adding that neither the hospital nor the ambulance teams had prior knowledge of who Majed was.

Al-Majed is the suspected head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades – Ziad al-Jarrah Battalion, which has ties to the Hussein bin Ali Battalion that claimed responsibility for an attack in November on the Iranian embassy in Beirut that killed 25 people.

According to Islamist websites, al-Majed was announced as leader of the Brigades in 2012.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades was formed in 2009 and is believed to have branches in both the Arabian Peninsula and Lebanon, but may have been active as early as 2004.

The reports come two days after a Lebanese minister told AFP that al-Majed had been arrested by the army's intelligence services, although no official statement has yet been issued over the detention.

According to Lebanese state media, officials have confirmed the suspect's identity through DNA testing.

"Al-Majed's DNA was compared with those of his cousin, which confirmed his identity," NNA reported.

Saudi Arabia has hailed al-Majed's detention, and the Iranian embassy in Beirut has requested on Thursday access to the investigation into the double suicide bombing.

"The (caretaker) Foreign Ministry received a memo from Iranian authorities in which they asked to stay informed about the investigation with al-Majed, considering that the explosion took place on an Iranian soil,” caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told LBCI television.

For it's part, the Lebanese news site Naharnet reported that Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Rokn Abadi announced that an Iranian intelligence delegation participated in inspecting the scene of the explosion near the embassy in Beirut's southern suburbs.

"Both Lebanese and Iranian authorities agreed that Iran will take part in the investigation,” the Iranian ambassador said.

The attack on the embassy came amid rising tension in Lebanon over the role of Hezbollah in the war in neighboring Syria.

In claiming the embassy bombing, brigades member Sirajeddin Zreikat warned of more attacks in Lebanon if Hezbollah keeps sending troops to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In 2009, Lebanon sentenced Majed in absentia to life in prison for belonging to a different extremist group, the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam.