Lebanon’s army increased patrols and checkpoints in Beirut and its southern suburbs on Oct. 17 as the government sought a wider investigation into an explosives shipment claimed by a Hezbollah lawmaker.
The army said it sent vehicle and foot patrols into the area and set up temporary checkpoints to pursue wanted people and others disrupting security. It did not say the deployment was prompted by the explosives case or a separate warehouse raid.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the increased security presence on Oct. 18. He said he had met Justice Minister Adel Nassar and chief prosecutor Ahmad Rami al-Hajj to discuss widening the explosives inquiry and pursuing people involved in moving weapons outside state control. “For us, the only limit is the law,” Salam said.
In an Oct. 12 statement, Salam said authorities had intercepted a vehicle traveling from the Bekaa toward Greater Beirut. It carried hundreds of kilograms of explosives, including C-4, he said. Salam did not give a precise total weight.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said in an Oct. 15 public statement that the vehicle and its cargo belonged to the group. He said the explosives were intended for use against Israeli forces and called for the cargo’s return and the release of two detainees. The shipment’s intended use remains part of the government investigation.
Lebanon’s Cabinet prohibited Hezbollah’s military and security activities on March 2 and called on the group to surrender its weapons to the state. Fadlallah’s demand for the explosives places the seized cargo at the center of that dispute over weapons control.
In a separate case, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) said young men on motorcycles tried to block officers from entering a warehouse in Gallerie Semaan on Oct. 16. Officers seized medicines the ISF described as unfit and sealed the warehouse. The ISF did not identify the men and said the warehouse investigation continued under judicial direction.
Salam has called for the explosives inquiry to establish who was involved in transporting the shipment and what it was intended for.
