Hezbollah Admits a Seized Truck of Explosives Was Its Own; Rubio Tells Lebanon Not to Return It
Lebanese forces stopped the truck, carrying 780 kilograms of explosives, on the Beirut-Bekaa highway. Hezbollah says the material was meant for Israeli forces.
By Watchman Report staff ·
A Hezbollah official acknowledged Thursday that a truck of explosives seized by Lebanese authorities last week belonged to the group, The Times of Israel and agencies reported. The truck was stopped at a checkpoint on the main highway between Beirut and the Bekaa Valley carrying 780 kilograms (1,720 pounds) of explosives, including 250 kilograms of TNT and 250 kilograms of C-4, according to judicial officials. Two men were arrested.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the explosives were "intended exclusively for use against the Israeli occupation" in southern Lebanon and called claims of an assassination plot "baseless." He asked authorities to return the shipment and release the two men. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam noted that C-4 had been used in several "infamous political assassinations in Lebanon's modern history." Lebanon's government declared Hezbollah's military activities illegal in March.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and urged him to "hold accountable all those who ordered, financed and directed the shipment," saying that returning the explosives to Hezbollah "should be out of the question," a State Department official told Axios. Aoun's office said Lebanese forces are confiscating weapons and fighting smuggling, and a Lebanese official quoted him as saying, "No one will be released unless he is innocent." Rubio also raised Lebanon's 1955 law banning contact with Israelis. U.S., Lebanese and Israeli military officers are expected to meet at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa next week.
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