Lebanon: five alleged Hezbollah members arrested in the north with torn-up documents – Salam: “the era of impunity is over”

Five men whom Lebanese authorities link to Hezbollah are in custody after a check by an Internal Security Forces (ISF) patrol in the mountains between Batroun and Bsharri, in northern Lebanon. The arrest took place on the evening of Tuesday, November 10, in an area far from the border with Israel, and prompted strong political reactions on Wednesday, November 11.

Lebanon’s National News Agency announced that the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Judge Ahmad Rami al-Hajj, is supervising the interrogation of the five, which is being conducted by the ISF Information Branch.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who is in Antalya, Turkey, for the UN climate summit (COP31), contacted Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar, Justice Minister Adel Nassar, prosecutor al-Hajj and ISF director general Raed Abdallah. In his statement, as recorded by L’Orient Today, Salam made clear that “the era of impunity is over” and that the investigation will have no limit other than the law.

Papers rather than weapons

No seizure of rockets or weapons has been reported in this case. The weight falls on the documents the five were carrying. MPs for Bsharri Strida Geagea and Melhem Tawk, in a joint statement, say the Bsharri gendarmerie patrol found them suspicious, they tried to tear up papers as the officers approached, and the pieces were eventually found inside their car.

According to information the two MPs cite from security sources, the notes contained names divided into groups, with references to a “Rashid group” and a “Koura group”, and a description of weapons in which the word “snipers” appears. The five were moving without mobile phones, which they had left in an apartment in the village of Benhran in Koura. One comes from a village in the Batroun district and the others from Bint Jbeil, Khiam, Tyre and the northern Bekaa. These details, as the MPs themselves stress, are still in the hands of investigators.

Batroun MP Ghayath Yazbeck asked ironically whether the area is “the closest to the border with Israel”, while the Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel called for Hezbollah’s leadership to be referred to the judiciary. The Free Patriotic Movement, once the organisation’s ally, said security in the area is exclusively the state’s responsibility.

The case comes almost a month after the truck stopped at the Dahr al-Baidar checkpoint carrying hundreds of kilograms of explosives, including C-4, on its way from the Bekaa Valley to Beirut. The army meanwhile continues raids on depots, as in Baalbek on Tuesday, November 10, where rockets and weapons were seized. These are Lebanese officials’ and MPs’ accounts, reported as stated; Hezbollah had not commented in the sources we reviewed.