Black flags or false flag: Hezbollah plunged into Lebanon Twitter furore

Lebanon’s security services have waded into a Twitter controversy that sparked fears of anti-Christian Islamic State attacks on the country’s churches, amid allegation that the social media account owner is in reality a member of Shiite group Hezbollah pretending to be a Sunni extremist.

A Twitter user under the name “Free Sunnis of Baalbek” has for months been posting inflammatory sectarian statements, and in June announced that the group had pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State.

Lebanon’s intelligence agency began investigating after the account posted threats that the group would “purge the Islamic emirate of Bekaa…of polytheist [Christian] churches.”

Their inquiries led to the arrest on Thursday of Yadi Hussein al-Hussein, a 19-year old from al-Shurawina, a Shiite-dominated district of the north-eastern town of Baalbek.

Rumours had been circulating that the account was run either by Western intelligence agencies, or by nearby Arab states keen to foment sectarian strife in Lebanon, whose 15-year civil war came to an end in 1990.

However, the tweets were found to have originated in Baalbek itself, and were allegedly sent from Hussein’s Blackberry phone.

Baalbek has traditionally been seen as a stronghold for Hezbollah supporters, and is home to a “Hezbollah Museum.”

Security sources told Bassam Abou Zeid, a correspondent with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, that Hussein was a member of the Shiite group Hezbollah.

Translation: Hussein al-Hussein, the man suspected of running the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Twitter account, said he is a Hezbollah member, according to security sources

However, a Hezbollah source later denied that Hussein was affiliated to the group.

Translation: The questioning of Hussein al-Hussein, who ran Free Sunnis of Baalbek, is working on the assumption that he acted alone – so far no partners have become apparent

Despite denials from Hezbollah sources, reports of his affiliation were widely reported by Lebanese news sites.

Although Lebanese security forces took the threats seriously, even the Islamic State had warned its supporters on Twitter that the account was a forgery, reports Lebanese satellite channel Future TV.  

After hacking into the account, authorities changed the image to one of the Lebanese flag and posted news of Hussein’s arrest.

The Twitter account has now been suspended.

According to Twitter’s transparency report, the Lebanese government requested information about 11 user accounts in the six months to June 2014.