Protest in Baalbeck against the government's measures to monitor surveillance cameras and instructions for checkpoints to search trucks heading from the Bekaa to Beirut. (Credit: Courtesy of Sarah Abdallah)
BEKAA — Hezbollah supporters gathered at al-Jabali roundabout in Baalbeck to protest government measures to access surveillance cameras in the Bekaa and checkpoints set to search trucks heading from Bekaa to Beirut, according to our correspondent.
These measures come after security forces intercepted hundreds of kilos of explosives belonging to Hezbollah in Dahr al-Baidar on Oct. 5, and arrested two people.
The protesters considered that the measures adopted by the government were an "attempt to restrict the resistance," and threatened to escalate their actions.
The protesters said that accessing surveillance camera footage "infringes on citizens’ personal privacy," warning that any "infringement on the resistance was unacceptable and would not go unanswered."
In a call on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told President Joseph Aoun that Lebanese authorities should not return the explosives, hours after Hezbollah acknowledged the explosives were "for the resistance."
The party said that the explosives were intended to be used against the Israeli army, which still occupies dozens of Lebanese villages and carries out daily attacks despite a June "cease-fire." Some observers had expressed concerns that the explosives could be used to carry out assassinations.
Additional reporting contributed by Sarah Abdallah.
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