Dispute in Lebanon over Hezbollah's confiscated explosives

Hezbollah has said the explosives should be used against Israel, although political figures and some analysts fear an assassination attempt.

Beirut, Lebanon – On October 5, a minivan was stopped at a checkpoint in Dehr al-Bidar between the Bekaa Valley and the Mount Lebanon region.

Lebanese security forces discovered that the vehicle was carrying hundreds of kilograms of explosives, including TNT and C-4, according to Lebanese officials.

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The end of the list on Thursday, Hassan Fazlullah, the representative of Hezbollah, issued a statement announcing that the explosives belonged to Hezbollah, demanding their return and the release of the two people detained in the car.

Fazlullah said in his statement: "From the moment the vehicle was seized, the relevant institutions within [Hezbollah] immediately contacted the security and judicial institutions and informed them that the vehicle and its cargo belonged to the resistance." They demanded the immediate release of the detainees and the return of the vehicle and everything inside, because these are the capabilities that the resistance is using to counter the Israeli occupation of our land in the south [Lebanon]."

Fazlullah pointed out that the explosives were intended to be used against Israel, which continues to occupy large parts of southern Lebanon, and not domestically against the Lebanese government or other factions, as some political figures and analysts had suggested.

"Therefore, we are warning the [Lebanese] authorities about the consequences of continuing to escalate our actions," he said. [Hezbollah] will defend the rights of its people and the capabilities it uses to confront the Israeli enemy, and will not tolerate any goal from any side that implements the demands of America against our resistance.

But many of Hezbollah's political opponents, who blame the Iran-backed group for targeting political opponents in past assassinations, fear that smuggled explosives could be used against Hezbollah's opponents.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam noted that C-4 explosives had been used in previous assassinations, although investigators have not proven that the seized cargo was intended for such an attack.

Despite repeated accusations against it, including the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, Hezbollah has never admitted to carrying out the assassinations.

On March 2, when Hezbollah responded to sustained Israeli attacks for the first time in more than a year in retaliation for the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Salam and his government banned the group's military activities. Salam's coalition government includes two Hezbollah ministers who opposed the decision, and the group has repeatedly defied the government's announcement by continuing to fight Israel.

The war has largely subsided since June, when Beirut and Tel Aviv signed a US-led trilateral deal. Under the framework agreement, test zones will be established as part of a phased process in which Israel eventually withdraws and the Lebanese army moves in to disarm Hezbollah. However, the program has had complications from the beginning, as according to local residents, Israel has never been present in some of the areas, including the test areas, and Israeli demolitions continue in the occupied territories.

In recent weeks, Lebanese security forces have discovered a number of operations aimed at smuggling explosives.

Lebanese authorities have condemned the smuggling operation and Salam has pledged to investigate these incidents, especially the incident in Dehr al-Bidar.

Salam wrote on social networks: We will not relent in pursuing and expanding the investigation to identify all those involved in this criminal operation and those behind them. "We will deal with weapons outside the legal framework with the necessary determination."

But this issue also points to the growing differences between the Lebanese government and the leadership of Hezbollah over the role of the armed resistance.

Since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990, Hezbollah has been the main Lebanese force to maintain its weapons. This was apparently part of the "army, people and resistance" national security formula aimed at countering Israeli occupation - which lasted until 2000 before resuming in 2024 - and aggression, while the country was also under Syrian hegemony.

This situation changed last year when Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Salam came to power. The Hezbollah-allied Assad regime in Damascus had just fallen, cutting off a powerful land route of weapons and financing to Tehran. The regional power dynamic appeared to be shifting toward a decline in Iranian power and greater influence by the United States and Israel, prompting Lebanese leaders to announce that all non-state weapons would come under government control.

Despite Hezbollah's opposition to the orders of the new leaders, the Lebanese army proceeded to disarm Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. Some of Hezbollah's opponents have branded the group weak and defeated, although analysts say it still retains some of its fighting power and that Lebanon's regional alliances could be largely determined by regional events.

However, the group's internal influence has been challenged at times by Lebanon's new leadership, including in the Dehr al-Bidar incident.

Marcel Blokji, a former brigadier general who oversaw the border committee of the Lebanese army with Syria, told Al Jazeera that the recent explosions, and in particular the incident in Dehr al-Bidar, are related to the security situation in the wider region, especially regarding the US-Israeli war against Iran and the recent escalation of violence between Yemen and the Arab Houthis.

He suggested that Hezbollah could seek to follow other pro-Iranian actors in the region and intensify attacks against enemies, but he also added that Hezbollah may need explosives for drones to attack Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

Despite promises by Lebanese officials for an investigation, analysts said concerns about the impact of the investigation remain.

Essam Qaysi, a Beirut-based analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center, raised questions about Salam's relationship with the Lebanese security apparatus. Lebanon has several security agencies, some of which are loyal to different political parties or personalities.

Referring to Hezbollah's ceremony on the coast of Beirut in 2025 to commemorate the assassination of the group's late leaders, Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safiuddin, he said: "More than a year has passed since the Rawsheh incident." Hezbollah displayed the likeness of the two slain leaders at Pigeon Rock in Beirut's Rawsheh coastal district, despite the projections being banned by authorities, prompting Salam to call for the arrest of those responsible. Security agents on the scene failed to act to prevent the predictions, and observers fear that elements of the security agencies may not fully cooperate with Salam in the explosives investigation he ordered.

Balukji described Salam's relations with security agencies as "slightly strained". He added that this could be the last case of the series of problems that the Lebanese government is facing, because the Israeli occupation and the destruction of the southern infrastructure continue.

"We are still in a long-term state of limbo, with no solution in sight," Blokji said. The framework agreement has stalled and there is no solution to reduce tensions in the south.