in the areas under its occupation<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn recent weeks, Lebanese security forces have uncovered a number of operations aimed at smuggling explosives.<\/p>\n
Lebanese officials have condemned the smuggling operations and Salam has vowed to investigate the incidents, particularly the Dahr el-Baydar incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not be lenient in following up and expanding the investigation in order to identify all those involved in this criminal operation and those behind them,\u201d Salam wrote on social media. \u201cWe will deal with weapons outside the legal framework with the required firmness.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the issue also points to growing disagreements between Lebanon\u2019s government and Hezbollah\u2019s leadership over the role of armed resistance.<\/p>\n
Explosive concerns<\/p>\n
Since the end of Lebanon\u2019s civil war in 1990, Hezbollah has been the principal Lebanese force to keep its weapons. This was ostensibly part of a national security formula of \u201cthe army, the people and the resistance\u201d aimed at opposing Israeli occupation \u2013 which continued until 2000 before resuming in 2024 \u2013 and aggression, while the country was also under Syrian hegemony.<\/p>\n
That changed last year when President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Salam came to power. The Hezbollah allied al-Assad regime in Damascus had just fallen, cutting off a powerful land route of weapons and financing from Tehran. The regional power dynamic appeared to be shifting towards a decrease in Iranian power and more influence from the United States and Israel, leading Lebanon\u2019s leaders to announce that all non-state weapons would come under control of the state.<\/p>\n
Despite Hezbollah\u2019s opposition to the new leaders\u2019 decrees, the Lebanese Army went about disarming Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. Some Hezbollah opponents have declared the group weak and defeated, though analysts say the group still retains some fighting power and that Lebanon\u2019s regional alliances could largely be determined by regional events.<\/p>\n
Still, the group\u2019s domestic influence has been challenged at times by the new Lebanese leadership, including in the Dahr el-Baydar incident.<\/p>\n
Marcel Baloukji, a former brigadier general who oversaw the Lebanese Army\u2019s border committee with Syria, told Al Jazeera that the recent busts, and particularly the Dahr el-Baydar incident, were connected to the security situation in the wider region, particularly concerning the US-Israeli war on Iran and the recent intensification of violence between Yemen\u2019s Houthis and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
He suggested that Hezbollah could be looking to follow the lead of other pro-Iranian actors in the region and intensify attacks against adversaries. But he also added that Hezbollah may need explosives for drones to attack Israeli forces occupying southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Government difficulties<\/p>\n
Despite the promises by Lebanese officials to investigate, analysts said concerns remain about how effective the investigations might be.<\/p>\n
Issam Kayssi, a Beirut-based analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center, raised questions over Salam\u2019s relationship with the Lebanese security apparatus. Lebanon has multiple security agencies, some of which have competing loyalties to different political figures or parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are more than a year on from the Raouche incident,\u201d he said, referring to a Hezbollah event held on Beirut\u2019s seafront in 2025 to commemorate the assassination of the group\u2019s late leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine. Hezbollah projected the likeness of the two slain leaders on Pigeon Rock in Beirut\u2019s Raouche seafront district, despite the projections being prohibited by authorities, prompting Salam to call for the arrest of those responsible. Security agents on site failed to act to prevent the projections and observers fear that elements of the security agencies may not be fully cooperative with Salam in the explosives investigations he ordered.<\/p>\n
Baloukji described Salam\u2019s relationship with the security agencies as \u201csomewhat strained.\u201d He added that it could be the latest file in a series of difficulties facing the Lebanese government, as Israel\u2019s occupation and ongoing demolition of southern infrastructure continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur situation remains in a state of prolonged limbo, with no solutions in sight,\u201d Baloukji said. \u201cThe framework agreement is stalled and there is no resolution to de-escalate the situation in the south.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beirut, Lebanon \u2013 On October 5, a minivan was stopped at a checkpoint in Dahr el-Baydar between the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,48084,88,47,43,6803],"class_list":["post-648477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-attacks-lebanon","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-news-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}