Lebanon arrests Islamic State member over plot to kill Pope Leo XIV

Lebanese Army Intelligence has arrested a Syrian member of the Islamic State group who told investigators he had been assigned to assassinate Pope Leo XIV during the pontiff's three-day visit to Lebanon in late 2025.

A Lebanese security source confirmed the arrest to UPI on Thursday, Sept. 24. The man was detained in the Batroun area of northern Lebanon after Military Intelligence placed him under close surveillance, according to an Italpress report carried by the Malta News Agency, which cited information obtained by Al Arabiya and said the arrest followed intensive monitoring and tracking operations.

The plot never reached the execution stage, a security source told UPI. The pope, the head of the Catholic Church, travelled to Lebanon from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, 2025, on the second and final leg of his first trip abroad, which began in Turkey on Nov. 27.

What the detainee told investigators

During questioning the man admitted that he had remained in constant contact with the group's leadership in Syria, which assigned him several tasks in Lebanon aimed at destabilizing security and spreading fear among the population, according to the Italpress report. By his own confession, the largest of those tasks was the assassination of the pope.

He entered Lebanon illegally and maintained contacts with senior Islamic State leaders in Syria, UPI reported, citing Lebanese security. He was also tasked with carrying out operations aimed at destabilizing the country's security. Within the organization he held a position of responsibility, the Italpress report said.

Once he had settled in Lebanon, he re-established contact with his commanders and received direct orders from an Islamic State leader, the Lebanese broadcaster MTV reported. He was then assigned to prepare the killing of the head of the Catholic Church during the 2025 visit.

None of the published accounts say what weapons or accomplices, if any, were involved, or which event on the pope's schedule he had settled on.

Who the detainee is

MTV identified the detainee as a Syrian known as Al-Daamish and said he had previously held the position of deputy governor for Aleppo province within the organization, describing him as one of the most senior Islamic State leaders in north Lebanon. The New Arab, rendering the alias as Al-Daameesh, reported that he began with the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate, before joining the Islamic State. UPI did not identify him.

He was arrested by the former Syrian regime's security apparatus and spent three years in prison, MTV reported. When the regime collapsed and the prisons were opened, he got out and entered Lebanon illegally. The report did not say when he crossed the border.

Lebanese media reported on Wednesday, Sept. 23, that Military Intelligence had detained the man in Batroun on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State and planning to target Pope Leo XIV during his November 2025 visit, the Hawar News Agency said. Those reports described him as holding a leadership role within the group in northern Lebanon and cited security sources.

Military Intelligence had tracked him from the moment he entered the country until locating and arresting him in Batroun, the Italpress report said.

Security around the papal visit

The Lebanese Army adopted tight security measures for the pope's packed schedule, UPI reported. It included meetings with the country's top officials and Catholic patriarchs, visits to monasteries and shrines, a meeting with thousands of young people and a holy mass, with the activities held at different locations across the country.

Al-Daamish conducted surveillance operations on the ground, monitoring the areas the pope was scheduled to pass through in an attempt to find a security gap, MTV reported, citing the investigations of the army intelligence directorate. The broadcaster did not say how long that surveillance went on.

MTV said he failed to execute the mission because of the dense security deployment and the strict measures accompanying the visit. Sources cited by Italpress said he was unable to move to the operational stage because he lacked resources.

The date of the arrest has not been made public. Lebanese media carried the report on Wednesday, Sept. 23, the Hawar News Agency said, while UPI reported that a Lebanese security source confirmed the detention on Thursday, Sept. 24.

Case before the military court

He was placed under surveillance, arrested and his mobile phone emptied of its contents before he was handed over to the Military Court, MTV reported. The New Arab reported that he has since been handed to the Military Tribunal, and that it was not clear exactly when he was arrested.

The detainee was expected to face charges of belonging to a terrorist group, planning terrorist operations and attempting to assassinate an international religious figure, UPI reported, citing media reports. None of the accounts describe him as having been formally charged.

The Lebanese Army Command has not issued an official statement confirming the details of the alleged plot or the charges against the detainee, the Hawar News Agency reported.

Information to be shared with Damascus

Lebanese authorities will pass to their Syrian counterparts the information the detainee has given about his links to the Islamic State, according to the Italpress report. Security cooperation and coordination between Lebanon and Syria are already permanently in place, the report said.

Militant violence in Lebanon since 2011

After the outbreak of Syria's civil war in 2011, Lebanon saw a wave of suicide bombings and attacks involving booby-trapped cars in crowded residential areas, including Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, UPI reported.

The Islamic State never governed a Lebanese town or declared a province in Lebanon, though it held ground in the mountains along the Syrian border until the army cleared it in 2017. Army Intelligence has arrested several senior operatives of the group and other members in recent years.

The Lebanese Army fought a three-month battle in 2007 against Fatah al-Islam, an al-Qaeda-inspired Sunni Islamist group, in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near the northern city of Tripoli. The Army eventually regained control of the camp after heavy fighting.

The fighting at Nahr al-Bared left 171 soldiers dead and hundreds more wounded, according to UPI's account of the campaign.

What the security source said

The security source told UPI that the danger posed by other Islamic State operatives in Lebanon exists, but that there is security control.

Some people from ISIS or other groups holding such beliefs constitute dormant cells, but we are always on alert

UPI did not name the detainee, and none of the published accounts say when he is due to appear before the Military Court. Nor do they say whether other suspects are being sought in connection with the alleged plot.