Arrest in Thailand After U.S. Terror Alert
Amid public warnings from the United States and Israel of a possible terrorist attack, Thai officials said Friday that they had arrested a Lebanese man believed to be a member of Hezbollah in connection with a plot to strike tourists in Bangkok.
Thailand’s deputy prime minister, Chalerm Yubamrung, said that the arrest came after weeks of coordination with Israel. In an interview with Thai television, he said the Israeli government had told Thai officials that “a group of people who appear to be from the Lebanese group Hezbollah” were planning to strike tourist sites in Bangkok in mid-January. The United States and Israel regard Hezbollah, a militant Shiite group with strong ties to Iran and significant political power in Lebanon, as a terrorist organization.
The concerns over a possible attack come at a time of intensifying strains between Iran and both Israel and the United States.
In Beirut, a Hezbollah official, Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, rejected the Thai account, telling LBC television that the arrested man “is not one of Hezbollah’s members.”
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/world/asia/arrest-in-thailand-after-us-terror-alert.html