ISIS official at Lebanon's Ain Al Hilweh camp jailed for 160 years

Before joining ISIS, Imad Yassin was a member of militant groups, including Al Qaeda-linked Jund Al Sham

Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the entrance of Ain Al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp. EPA

A Lebanese military court has sentenced an official with extremist group ISIS to 160 years in prison for carrying out deadly attacks against security forces and planning others targeting government buildings and crowded civilian areas, judicial officials said.

The officials said Imad Yassin, a Palestinian in his 50s, confessed to all 11 charges against him, including joining a “terrorist organisation,” committing crimes in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp of Ain Al Hilweh, shooting at Lebanese soldiers and transporting weapons and munitions for militant groups.

Yassin, also known as Imad Akl, said he was planning several other attacks, including blowing up two main power stations, the headquarters of a major local television station in Beirut, killing a leading politician and planning attacks on hotels north of Beirut, the officials said, on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Before joining ISIS, Yassin was a member of other militant Islamic groups, including Al Qaeda-linked Jund Al Sham, which is still active in Ain Al Hilweh. In later years, he became ISIS' top official in the camp.

Yassin was detained in Ain Al Hilweh, near the port city of Sidon, six years ago and has been held since. The total 11 sentences that he received count to up to 160 years in prison, the officials said.

The session during which he was sentenced started on Monday night and lasted until the early hours of Tuesday, the officials said. The news about his sentence became public on Wednesday.

At the height of its rise in Iraq and Syria after it declared a caliphate in 2014, ISIS claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in different parts of Lebanon that left scores of people dead.

Lebanese troops launched a major operation in 2017 during which they captured ISIS-held areas along the Lebanon-Syria border.