Crimeupdated 55m ago2 min read
Nawaf Salam Orders Investigation After Hezbollah Explosives Truck Seized at Dahr al-Baidar Checkpoint
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Two Hezbollah-linked suspects detained at Dahr al-Baidar checkpoint over explosives. Salam vows thorough investigation and accountability for all involved.
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Truck, explosives, arrests
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon will carry out a thorough investigation to track down suspected Hezbollah members believed to be linked to an explosives-laden truck intercepted at the Dahr al-Baidar checkpoint last week. Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos said two people detained in the truck have been referred to judicial authorities, and security agencies will go after other people involved in the case. Judicial officials told The Associated Press that the truck was carrying 780 kilograms (1,720 pounds) of explosives, including 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of TNT and 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of C4 plastic explosives.
The judicial officials said the two detained suspects told investigators they were only told to take the material from the northeastern region of Baalbek to Beirut without being told what it would be used for. The Lebanese army said troops seized another shipment of explosives weighing 200 kilograms (440 pounds) being smuggled from Syria into the northeastern Lebanese border town of al-Qasr.
Judiciary expands probe
Lebanese judicial authorities expanded their investigation into a shipment of explosives seized in Dahr al-Baydar, on the Bekaa-Beirut highway, seeking to establish its origin, intended recipients and purpose. Prosecutor General Ahmad Rami al-Hajj and Military Court Government Commissioner Judge Claude Ghanem oversaw the expanded probe, and Ghanem returned the preliminary investigation files of two detainees identified as Ali K. and Haitham A. to military police investigators. A senior judicial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that preliminary confessions indicated Sajed had handed over the shipment in the Bekaa Valley, while Zulfiqar was awaiting its delivery in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The same judicial source said the shipment is believed to have contained more than 500 kilograms of explosives, packed in cardboard boxes alongside small metal balls and nails designed to penetrate vehicle bodywork. The case prompted political demands for the dismantling of Hezbollah’s military and security apparatus, with Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel urging the state to dismantle Hezbollah’s military and security infrastructure immediately.
Accountability and wider fears
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said during a meeting that Lebanese people should be confident the government would not hesitate to pursue and broaden the investigation to identify “all those involved in this criminal operation and those behind them.”
Information Minister Dr. Paul Morcos said the meeting addressed that there would be “no leniency or turning a blind eye, but rather truth and accountability.”
The National reported that about 250kg of TNT-type explosives and 250kg of C4 were discovered in a lorry bound for Beirut when it was stopped at an Internal Security Forces checkpoint at Dahr Al Baidar in the Bekaa Valley.
Justice Minister Adel Nassar posted on X that “disarmament of illegal weapons, combating terrorism, and pursuing all lawbreakers is an irreversible path, and it will accelerate.”
Lebanon’s Justice Minister Adel Nasser also said the investigation related to the seized explosives and everything branching from it would be completed to the end, as political figures linked the seizure to the history of political assassinations in Lebanon.