Lebanese authorities say they have foiled 3 militant attacks

Lebanon's interior minister says authorities have thwarted attempts by members of the Islamic State group to carry out three attacks near the capital Beirut that would have inflicted a large number of civilian casualties

BEIRUT -- Lebanese authorities have thwarted attempts by members of the Islamic State group to carry out three attacks near the capital Beirut that would have inflicted a large number of civilian casualties, the interior minister said Wednesday.

Bassam Mawlawi said the would-be attackers, two of whom were detained earlier this month, are all Palestinians who had been recruiting young men to carry out suicide attacks with explosive belts in the predominantly Shiite southern suburbs of Beirut — a stronghold of the militant Hezbollah group.

IS has in the past claimed responsibility for deadly attacks that killed and wounded scores of people in Lebanon. Such violence has dropped in recent years since the extremist group lost territories it controlled along the Lebanon-Syria border.

There has been concern recently that Lebanon's severe economic crisis was driving young men, particularly in the impoverished north, to join IS. Dozens of young Lebanese men have disappeared in northern Lebanon recently and later turned up in Iraq, where they joined IS. Several Lebanese were among suspected militants killed by Iraqi security forces over the past weeks.