Lebanon foiled a plot by a suicide bomber to blow up a plane bound for the United Arab Emirates from Australia earlier this month, the country's interior minister says.
Nohad Machnouk told Saudi-owned television station Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath that the bomber was Lebanese and had planned to blow up a plane bound for Abu Dhabi.
Earlier this month an Australian man was detained in Sydney during raids to disrupt what authorities described as an Islamic State-inspired plot to bomb an Etihad Airways flight.
Australian authorities have said they thwarted a credible terrorist plot to down a plane by smuggling a device onboard. They have provided few details, including the precise nature of the threat or any airlines involved.
Machnouk said two other brothers are held in Australia while the fourth is a senior member of the Islamic State group based in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.
