BEIRUT: Lebanon issued Monday an arrest warrant in absentia for Syrian general Ali Mamlouk for his alleged involvement in a plot to carry out terrorist attacks in Lebanon.

Investigative Judge Riad Abu Ghayda referred the file to Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr after completion of the investigation, judicial sources told The Daily Star.

They said Saqr would examine and make recommendations on the case before Maj. Gen. Mamlouk is given a military trial after an indictment is issued.

Abu Ghayda has set Feb. 4 as the date for questioning Mamlouk. A notice with Abu Ghayda’s decision was posted at the entrance to Beirut’s Military Tribunal after the judge considered Mamlouk’s place of residence as “unknown.”

Saqr had asked Abu Ghayda to question Mamlouk, the head of the Syrian National Security Bureau, and his assistance Col. Adnan, whose last name is not known, in addition to Bouthaina Shaaban, adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In August 2012, the government’s Deputy Commissioner at the Military Tribunal Judge Sami Nader accused former Information Minister Michel Samaha, a staunch ally of the Syrian regime, along with Mamlouk and Adnan of plotting to assassinate political and religious figures in Lebanon and carry out terrorist attacks.

Samaha was also accused of transferring explosives from Syria to Lebanon and working with foreign intelligence against his country.

The judicial sources said Monday Abu Ghayda’s indictment will include measures against Col. Adnan such as issuing a search warrant given that his full name is not known.