The military court issued a 160-year prison sentence to Imad Yassin, the emir of ISIS in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, after he admitted to planning dozens of terrorist operations, including the bombing of the Jiyyeh and Zahrani plants, the assassination of former MP Walid Jumblatt, targeting the Nabatieh market, hotels in Jounieh, and the building of the "Al-Jadeed" channel. Six years have passed since the Lebanese army intelligence arrested Imad Yassin, known as Imad Asqal, the emir of ISIS in the Ain al-Hilweh camp and leader of the military wing of "Jund al-Sham," during a special operation executed in the Al-Tawari neighborhood of the camp. Yesterday morning, the military court issued its ruling on Yassin regarding the 11 charges he faced after the president of the court, Brigadier General Khalil Jaber, insisted on concluding his interrogation and contacting the bar association, requesting the presence of the defense attorney for the detained after her absence from several sessions.
The court sentenced Yassin to more than 160 years in prison, which includes three life sentences for his conviction in carrying out terrorist operations in Sidon in 2004, his affiliation with the “Ansar Brigade,” and to a "gang armed with the intent to commit crimes against people and property and undermine the authority of the state," in addition to four sentences of 15 years hard labor for belonging to more than one armed terrorist organization. The court decided to discontinue the proceedings against Yassin for belonging to an armed gang due to previous prosecution in the Higher Council, and acquitted him from the charge of belonging to an organization with the intent to commit assault and attempt to kill members of the Internal Security Forces.
The 54-year-old appeared in court with a thick beard streaked with gray and trimmed mustaches, wearing a cloak. He did not deny most of the charges against him, according to Al-Akhbar newspaper, after he publicly acknowledged his membership in terrorist groups. He seemed unbothered by the court's ruling, as he addressed Jaber saying: "Write what you want!"
After joining the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” early in his life, Yassin's participation in religious lessons held at Sheikh Hisham Al-Sharidi's office at the end of the 1980s led him to form relationships with militants, including Ahmad Al-Saadi (Abu Mahjan), his brother Haytham, Ibrahim Hourani, Maher Hamad, Taha Al-Sharidi, Abdul Rahman Al-Khatib, and Ahmad Al-Khatib. These religious lessons primarily revolved around establishing an armed Islamic organization aimed at establishing an Islamic state and declaring apostasy against other sects and groups, including the Lebanese state. The "Ansar Brigade" was indeed established, and military training for its members began on light weapons, eventually developing to training on explosives, setting off detonators and fuses, and undergoing security courses. This group executed more than 20 security operations within the camp, targeting certain Palestinian organization leaders and individuals consuming alcohol, as well as dismantling shops selling "forbidden items" and removing a statue of the Palestinian martyr Naji Al-Ali.
After Al-Sharidi was killed on September 16, 1991, and Abu Mahjan took over the organization, disagreements arose between him and Yassin, who decided to collaborate with Osama Al-Shihabi to establish "Jund al-Sham." Yassin was appointed its military emir. After surviving an assassination attempt that injured his leg, he left the camp in 2015 and, through his relative Mohamed Mansour, contacted leaders in the ISIS organization. He sent one of his close associates, Ziad Ka'oush, to Raqqa to discuss the situation in the camp with leaders "Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi" and "Abu Muhammad al-Adnani," where they agreed to establish a cell for ISIS in Ain al-Hilweh under Yassin’s leadership and appoint emirs for sectors within the camp and a Shura council, responsible for monitoring the movements of the Lebanese Army and other security agencies and identifying locations of weapon caches, as well as planning ambushes for Lebanese security elements and strategizing to target infrastructure.
Yassin attempted, through Mohammed Al-Kouta, to secure explosives and scout two sites: the Zahrani oil station and the Jiyyeh power plant, waiting for approval from ISIS leaders for the operations and the transfer of funds. He also proposed targeting Casino du Liban, one restaurant, hotels in Jounieh, the Nabatieh market, and the commercial center of Beirut "to strike at tourism and the Lebanese economy," as well as the assassination of the head of the Progressive Socialist Party at that time, Walid Jumblatt, "to fuel discord in Lebanon and provoke a civil war, considering Jumblatt one of the smartest political figures."
After scouting Jumblatt's homes in Clemenceau and Mukhtara and finding them fortified, Imad Asqal replaced the idea with plans to target Al-Jadeed’s headquarters with a car bomb due to their repeated attacks against him, but he also encountered security measures around the channel after Al-Kouta surveyed the building. Yassin drafted all the necessary details for targeting these sites using bags containing explosive devices to be detonated in phases or through truck bombs, but he was awaiting funding before the Lebanese army intelligence arrested him after their undercover operatives entered the Al-Tawari neighborhood of the camp.
