Lebanon’s security has been jolted repeatedly by the civil war in Syria.

The Lebanese army said it had arrested three people suspected of planning suicide attacks in the country, days after two suicide bombers killed at least eight people in a cafe in the northern city of Tripoli.

The army said in a statement on Thursday that investigation showed the three suspects, two Lebanese and a Syrian, had been trained in neighboring Syria. It said they had pledged loyalty to terrorist groups, a term Lebanon uses to describe Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s wing in Syria, and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“They were preparing to carry out terrorist attacks targeting army centers and residential areas,” the statement said.

Lebanon’s security has been jolted repeatedly by the civil war in Syria, which has also helped paralyses its government: the country has been without a head of state since May.

Militants linked to ISIS and the Nusra Front mounted an attack on the Lebanese border town of Arsal last August. They are still holding around two dozen members of the security forces taken captive in that incursion.

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