Hezbollah supporters gather in Beirut’s southern suburbs to pay tribute to Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine / L’Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Less than a week after hundreds of kilograms of explosives were seized between the Bekaa and Beirut, Hezbollah publicly acknowledged that the confiscated materials belonged to it during a press conference held by MP Hassan Fadlallah. Speaking from Parliament, Fadlallah warned parties opposed to the group and “pursuing an American agenda” against “any attack.”
Fadlallah said that, as soon as the two suspects were arrested in Dahr al-Baidar on Oct. 5 and their car and its cargo were seized, Hezbollah had “tried to settle the matter away from any internal controversy.” “We quickly contacted the security services to inform them that the car belonged to the Resistance,” he added. He said the party had “come up against the insistence of certain parties and officials in power who are seeking to achieve objectives that serve only the enemy.” “We will not tolerate any attack by parties pursuing an American agenda,” he warned.
Following the announcement of the seizure last Friday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had pledged “no leniency” toward those involved in transporting the shipment of TNT and C-4 explosives destined for Beirut’s southern suburbs. The justice minister, appointed from the Kataeb party’s share of government portfolios, had called for the case to be referred to the Court of Justice, an exceptional tribunal whose rulings cannot be appealed.
“We called for the immediate release of those arrested and the return of what was inside the vehicle, because these are materials used to defend Lebanese territory” against Israel, Fadlallah also said. According to a judicial source, one of the two men arrested is the son of a Hezbollah official. “All the Resistance’s capabilities are directed exclusively against the Israeli enemy,” he continued. Some observers had expressed concern that the explosives could be used to carry out assassinations.
Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for any attacks against Israel since the signing, in mid-June, of the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States. Israel, which occupies around 620 square kilometers in southern Lebanon, continues its systematic destruction of the border strip and carries out daily attacks there. The Lebanese government has also committed to disarming Hezbollah, which categorically refuses to do so. Disarmament, stipulated in the 1989 Taif Agreement, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 of 2006 and the 2024 cease-fire agreement, is a prerequisite set by Washington for unlocking funding to rebuild areas devastated by successive wars between Hezbollah and Israel.
