A large cell that was operating in Lebanon, with ties to Islamic State, was preparing a series of terrorist attacks to incite interfaith conflict in the country, RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the Lebanese special services.

"The goal of the exposed cell was to destabilize the situation in Lebanon and create support groups in certain areas. They intended to attack infrastructure of security forces and were preparing attacks on security officers themselves, including an attack on the head of Rumiya central prison (the largest in Lebanon), who, in their opinion, treats Muslim prisoners unfairly," the agency's source said.

According to the source, the terrorists were preparing an assassination attempt on one of the well-known religious figures, but the explosive devices installed on the bottom of the car did not detonate.

"They are trying to ignite interfaith conflicts in some settlements in northern Lebanon," he added.

The source emphasized the importance of this complex operation by the intelligence services.

"The army succeeded in identifying the organizational and economic structure of IS in Lebanon and eliminating it. The group used proceeds fr om robberies, kidnappings, as well as money transfers from Syria and funds received through the exchange of cryptocurrencies in Tripoli, wh ere a number of speculators who interacted with the terrorists were arrested," the agency's source explained. 

In addition, Lebanese military intelligence exposed seven ISIS groups and eliminated several of their leaders, whereas the rest either fled abroad or are in hiding.

The agency's source did not rule out that the remaining members of the cell could act alone. However, recreating a full-fledged ISIS structure in Lebanon after the destruction of this large-scale terrorist network and the elimination of its leaders will be extremely difficult.