A policeman secures the area as firefighters put out a fire at Duroy hotel following a bomb attack in Raouche, in western Beirut June 25, 2014. A suicide bomber killed himself and wounded several security officers at the hotel in Beirut close to the Saudi Arabian embassy on Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said. REUTERS/Mahmoud Kheir

BEIRUT — A suicide bomber wounded three security officers in a hotel close to the Saudi Arabian embassy in Beirut on Wednesday, June 25. It was the third blast in the country in less than a week.

Security services said the bomber was a Saudi national and that a second suspected Saudi militant, who was wounded in the blast, was arrested at the scene. The embassy was not damaged.

“The suicide bomber wanted to blow himself up at another place and security measures were taken to prevent the suicide bomber from reaching his target,” Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq told Lebanese television.

It was not clear whether the bomber was linked to any particular group. But the bombings came at a time when militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) were making advances in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

The al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades had also urged Lebanese Sunni Muslims to attack Hizbullah a day before Wednesday’s suicide bombing in central Beirut.

The suicide bomber, Saudi national Abdul-Rahman al-Thawani, and his partner, Abdul Rahman al-Shnifi, had been caught in a raid by police at Duroy Hotel before the former detonated his explosive belt. General Security had learned the pair had made reservations at more than one hotel, which prompted the raid.

The pair had arrived at Beirut’s airport on June 11 and made reservations at two hotels with check out dates set for mid-July, according to security sources.

Television footage showed scores of army officers packing a main street filled with emergency vehicles. Pictures posted online showed a plume of smoke billowing from the hotel.

“The explosion happened after the security forces raided the building – like two minutes after – and the fire erupted,” said Ahmad, a resident at the scene.

Beirut’s streets have been busy in the evenings with people watching the World Cup at cafes in the warm summer weather.

On Monday night, a suicide bomber blew up his car near an army checkpoint in Beirut, killing himself and a security officer. Three days earlier, the head of Lebanon’s General Security service narrowly escaped a suicide bombing near the Syrian border.

“Lebanon is the target, not just the General Security services,” Major General Abbas Ibrahim, the official who escaped the checkpoint bombing, told Lebanese television.

Police had been monitoring a group of men who had booked into the four-star Duroy hotel several days ago and the two men linked to the bombing had arrived recently, the sources said.

The Saudi embassy had identified the bomber and was coordinating with Lebanese investigators, Lebanon’s national news agency said, citing a source close to the embassy.

Earlier on Wednesday the Lebanese army said its intelligence unit had arrested five men suspected of planning to kill senior security officials in the north of the country.

It said the men were part of a “terrorist cell” in Qalamoun, near the Mediterranean city of Tripoli. The army was still trying to track down the remaining cell members, it said.

On Thursday, the Lebanese Army enforced strict security measures around the Dbayieh Palestinian refugee camp north of Beirut, as police continued to raid more hotels.

Security forces have launched a preemptive crackdown on hotels in the country in search of militant suspects after several suicide bombers had taken refuge in the capital’s hotels prior to their attacks, a security source told Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star.

Authorities are expected to design a set of security measures for hotels to prevent militants from entering the buildings and posing a danger to guests and employees.

Sources said Thursday Information Branch personnel, wearing bullet-proof vests, raided the Ramada Plaza, located in the Beirut neighborhood of Raouche, the site of Wednesday’s suicide bombing.

Security stationed outside the Ramada Plaza said some explosive material had been discovered inside the hotel and that they would be removed gradually. The hotel premises were cordoned off, preventing reporters from entering.

At least two individuals were arrested and police are still in search for an unidentified woman. It is unclear where the latter suspect was staying at the hotel.

“They are checking every room,” said one guest, who was leaving the Ramada Plaza. The hotel management had urged guests to check out, anticipating the raids.

The authorities are still on the hunt for a Syrian national believed to be in charge of the duo and a member of Liwa al-Tawheed, an armed group involved in the Syrian civil war. 

Lebanon has been increasingly drawn into Syria’s crisis. Hizbullah has been fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels.

The violence has also spilled over the border, with rocket attacks on towns in the Bekaa Valley, close to the frontier with Syria, and bombings of targets in Lebanon’s main coastal cities.  

— Reuters, TDS, TAAN