BEIRUT — A former Lebanese minister who was arrested three years ago for smuggling explosives into Lebanon from Syria was sentenced on Wednesday to four and a half years in prison for forming a group to carry out terrorist attacks.

Michel Samaha was tried by a military court on charges related to a plot allegedly devised with Syria’s security chief, Ali Mamlouk. Samaha confessed to the charges last month and gave details of the plans.

Samaha, who is close to the Syrian government, has been in detention since August 2012.

Lebanese Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said the sentence was a travesty of justice. Samaha deserving a tougher sentence for his alleged role in undermining Lebanon’s security, he said.

“This is a black day in the history of this court … what happened in the case is a disgrace, and we will do everything to amend the ruling,” Rifi said in a statement.

The arrest of Samaha in a case that has also produced indictments against two Syrian officials, one a top general, marks a major break with the past. Such action against Damascus or its Lebanese allies once was unthinkable.

Samaha was coordinating the plot with an undercover Lebanese intelligence agent. Leaked videos revealed that the ex-minister planned to target militants linked to Syrian rebels in Lebanon, anti-Syrian Lebanese members of parliament, Sunni religious scholars. 

Samaha told the agent that only two people know about the plot in Syria, “Ali [Mamlouk] and the president [Bashar Assad].”

Asked by the agent if Hezbollah are in on the planned attacks, Samaha said no. γ