Lebanonupdated 1h ago3 min read
Adel Nassar Urges Referring Seized Hezbollah Explosives File to Lebanon’s Judicial Council
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Investigations into Hezbollah explosives shipment are ongoing and expanding, with no ceiling. Nassar urges referring the file to the Judicial Council for national security review.
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Referral debate escalates
Lebanon’s Minister of Justice Adel Nassar said the investigation into the file of seized Hezbollah’s explosives shipment “is ongoing and expanding,” and he urged that the file be referred to the Judicial Council. Nassar told Asharq al-Awsat that the referral request would be “a path independent of the current judicial investigations and procedures,” and he said the criteria for referral “stem from the realm of law, not politics.” Nassar said the request for referral “stems from the size of the file and its risks,” explaining that transporting and storing a large quantity of explosives “involves direct dangers” to areas they pass through and to residents of a populated area.
Nassar added that the explosives case raises “suspicions regarding the intended purpose of their use,” including “executing assassinations, carrying out domestic bombings, or in acts of war,” and he said the Council of Ministers prohibits “military and armed acts outside the state framework.” Nassar said he raised the issue during the previous cabinet session and submitted a request to register it with the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to place it on the agenda for Thursday’s session.
Hezbollah and Lebanese Forces clash
Lebanese Forces ministers withdrew from a cabinet meeting at Baabda Palace after the Dahr al-Baydar explosives case was not referred to the Judicial Council, according to Al-Jadeed TV. Samir Geagea called for arresting Hezbollah officials linked to the seized explosives and urged President Aoun and PM Salam to refer the explosives case to the Judicial Council, saying it threatens national security, civil peace, and the authority of the state. A separate account from L’Orient-Le Jour said the Lebanese government decided not to comment immediately on referring the case to the Justice Court and preferred to await final conclusions of the investigation, after a formula proposed by Speaker Nabih Berry to avoid confrontation within the executive.
L’Orient-Le Jour said judges told President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berry, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam that an immediate referral to the Court could harm the proper conduct of the investigation at this stage, and it said the withdrawal of Lebanese Forces ministers followed. L’Orient-Le Jour quoted Minister of Information Paul Morcos saying, “The file on the explosive cargo was never, and will never be, closed,” while Adel Nassar said he would continue raising the issue at every Cabinet meeting.
Two tracks and legal stakes
Nassar said the cabinet move would establish two parallel tracks, with the ongoing judicial investigation continuing while a separate judicial-administrative process would require cabinet approval to transfer the case to the Judicial Council. Nassar said that if the government approved the referral, the military judiciary would relinquish jurisdiction and the case would automatically pass to the Judicial Council, and he insisted the referral would not obstruct the investigation. The dispute over the referral also drew warnings from Hezbollah-aligned figures, as the Mufti of the Jaafari, Sheikh Ahmed Qattan, said, “There is nothing more dangerous to social peace than bringing security devices into play of the executive authority.”
The debate also centered on what the Judicial Council is and what it can do, with imlebanon explaining that the Judicial Council is the highest exceptional criminal judiciary authority and that its competence is limited to files referred to it exclusively by decree issued in the Council of Ministers. imlebanon added that the Council has no right to hear the case sua sponte after a referral and cannot refuse to hear the case after it has been referred on the grounds of lacking jurisdiction, tying the explosives file’s next step to the cabinet’s decision.