Lebanon arrests 13 al Qaeda suspects

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese security forces have arrested 13 suspected members of al Qaeda on charges of weapons possession, security and judiciary sources said on Friday.

They said investigations were underway to determine whether the suspects -- seven Syrians, three Lebanese, one Saudi, one Jordanian with Lebanese nationality and one Palestinian -- had carried out or were planning to launch attacks.

The arrests are believed to have taken place some two weeks ago, the sources said.

Al Qaeda has rarely launched attacks in Lebanon, although it has used allied factions to recruit scores of volunteers among Lebanese and Palestinian refugees who went to Iraq to fight.

One of the al Qaeda hijackers in the September 11 attacks in the United States was a Lebanese national.

A foiled attempt to bomb the Italian embassy in Beirut in 2004 was blamed on a small militant group with links to al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for firing three Katyusha rockets from south Lebanon into northern Israel on December 27. There has been no independent confirmation that the Sunni Muslim militant group was behind that attack.

Israeli warplanes bombed a Palestinian guerrilla base just south of Beirut in retaliation for the strike.

South Lebanon is largely controlled by Shi'ite Hizbollah guerrillas who have sporadically clashed with Israeli forces since the Jewish state ended 22 years of occupation in 2000.