The seizure of half a tonne of explosives by Lebanese security forces – the second such incident in a matter of weeks – has sparked uproar in Lebanon, where the country's grim history of political assassinations has risen to the fore again.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Monday that there would be “no leniency” in the investigation and that the government “will not tolerate anyone who dares to toy with the country's security, safety and stability”.
About 250kg of TNT-type explosives and 250kg of C4 were discovered in a lorry bound for Beirut when it was stopped at an Internal Security Forces checkpoint at Dahr Al Baidar in the Bekaa Valley, officials said. Two men travelling in the vehicle were detained and the explosives handed over to the army, with the investigation now in the hands of a military court.
A senior security source told The National. said the explosive package contained nails and ball bearings. The source said such seizures “were not common” and that there was added concern after the army intercepted a similarly sized package of TNT near the border with Syria two weeks ago.
“I understand the anxiety gripping the Lebanese people upon the news of this truck's interception and the materials it was transporting, especially since C4 has been used in several of the infamous political assassinations in modern Lebanese history,” Mr Salam said in a post on X on Monday.
In the 2000s and early 2010s, several high-profile opponents of the Assad regime in Syria and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah were killed or had attempts made on their lives using explosives. Former prime minister Rafic Hariri was killed along with 20 others when a one-tonne lorry bomb was detonated as his convoy was driving in Beirut on February 14, 2005. The UN's Special Tribunal for Lebanon has convicted Hezbollah members of that attack.
Some in Lebanon are already linking the explosives seizures to Hezbollah, even though officials stress that the investigation is continuing. An official of the Iran-backed political party and armed group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr Salam said Lebanese could “rest assured that we will not relent in pursuing the investigation and expanding it, to identify every individual involved in this criminal operation, those behind them, uncover their plans and objectives, and bring them all to justice to receive the punishment they deserve”.
Hezbollah is under intense pressure both internationally and domestically amid a push to disarm. The government banned its military wing earlier this year after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel as part of the wider regional Iran war. Mr Salam's government has also declared its intent – under pressure from the US and Israel – to bring all weapons under state control.
The explosives seizures have stirred memories of Lebanon's past political violence. May Chidiac, a journalist and former government minister who survived an assassination attempt in 2005, said her attackers had tried to kill her with a combination of C4 and TNT.
“I survived by a miracle, but many of my friends who deserved to live were killed,” she said.