BEIRUT – A Lebanese security official says authorities have charged five men in connection with the deadly double bombing last week in the northern city of Tripoli.
The official said Friday that Lebanese defendants Hashem Menkara, Ahmad al-Ghareeb and Mustafa Houri face charges of orchestrating the Aug. 23 bombings outside two Tripoli mosques that killed at least 47 people. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of rules preventing him from being named.
The other defendants, identified as Mohammed Ali and Kudr al-Aryan, are both Syrian and have been charged with preparing the explosives. It was not clear whether they were in custody.
For many Lebanese, the bombings were seen as evidence Syria's bloody civil war is increasingly drawing in Lebanon.
