Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat—Ahmed Al-Mughassil, the suspected mastermind of the 1996 Kohbar Towers bombing, was arrested at Beirut’s airport by the Lebanese authorities three weeks ago, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said on Thursday, quoting a senior Lebanese security official.

“Internal Security Forces (ISF) arrested Al-Mughassil at Beirut airport on August 8 after he arrived from Iran on a forged passport,” the security official told AFP.

The next day he was handed over to Saudi authorities who had filed an extradition request, he said.

Saudi officials told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday Mughassil was in the Kingdom’s custody after almost 19 years on the run.

The 48-year-old leader of Hezbollah Al-Hejaz, an Iran-allied group, arrived in Beirut on board an Iranian plane, sources close to the Lebanese security told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Mughassil, who is believed to be married to a Lebanese woman, was traveling to Lebanon to attend his son’s wedding that was set to be held in Beirut’s Dahieh district, a Hezbollah stronghold.

The official did not elaborate on how the Information Branch of the IFS learned of his arrival to Beirut airport.

In 2006 a US court indicted Mughassil for planning the truck bombing that killed 19 US airmen and injured hundreds at the Khobar Towers apartment complex near a US military base in Saudi Arabia a decade earlier.

There has been no official word from Saudi Arabia on Mughassil’s arrest and the whole episode remains shrouded in mystery.

With the arrest of Mughassil, three out of the 13 suspects remain at large.