Lebanese army says it seized arms and ammunition in Beirut Hezbollah stronghold
One suspect detained in operation targeting weapons transfers and trafficking; raid comes days after Lebanese army seized arms and arrested six suspects in eastern Lebanon
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The Lebanese army said on Friday it seized “a large quantity of weapons and military ammunition” during a raid in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as a stronghold of the Hezbollah terror group.
One suspect was detained in the Msharafieh neighborhood during the “targeted security operation,” which came following “the monitoring and close tracking of weapons transfers and trafficking,” the Lebanese Armed Forces said.
The army did not say who owned the seized weapons, but added that law enforcement officials had launched an investigation.
The army rarely announces such raids in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.
Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the war with Iran on March 2 in support of its Iranian patrons, prompting massive Israeli airstrikes and a subsequent ground invasion of southern Lebanon before an agreement to end the conflict was reached in June, though sporadic fighting has continued.
Israel has said Beirut’s efforts to disarm the terror group were encouraging but insufficient, and that Hezbollah was rearming faster than it was being disarmed.
In a separate operation earlier this month, the Lebanese army said it apprehended six wanted individuals, including Syrian nationals, for trafficking drugs and possessing weapons in a Hezbollah stronghold in the east of the country.
The Lebanese soldiers also seized “a large quantity of weapons,” including RPGs, along with “equipment and raw materials used in drug manufacturing,” the statement read.
On October 10, Lebanese authorities arrested two suspected Hezbollah members accused of secretly transporting a half-tonne cargo of explosives, a judicial source told AFP at the time.
Based on initial investigations, one of the suspects was found to be the son of a Hezbollah official and the other was also a member of the terror group, according to the source.
On October 30, a Lebanese military court charged 13 people for their alleged involvement in shipping the half-tonne cargo of explosives to Hezbollah, a judicial source told AFP.
The Times of Israel Community.