Lebanon charges 13 Hezbollah members over 500 kg of explosives

Lebanese prosecutors charged 13 Hezbollah members on Sunday in connection with a half-ton shipment of explosives found in a vehicle heading toward Beirut earlier this month.

Judge Claude Ghanem issued the indictment against the group, which includes Ali Al Kurdi and Haitham Amhaz. Both men were arrested inside the vehicle transporting the materials. They are the only two defendants currently held in Lebanese custody.

The charges include endangering state security, defying government decisions, membership in a banned organization, and possessing firearms and explosives. The National News Agency reported that the defendants face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The explosives were discovered at a checkpoint in Dahr al-Baidar in the Bekaa Valley. Officials noted the materials matched types used in the truck bombing that killed former prime minister Rafic Hariri. That attack, for which the Special Tribunal for Lebanon found Hezbollah members responsible, killed 22 people and wounded hundreds.

In March, the Military Court presided over by Judge Wassim Fayad released four Hezbollah members on symbolic bail of $21. Those men had been detained for six days for possessing illegal weapons. This history of lenient sentencing contrasts with the current maximum potential sentence of a decade.

Hezbollah has demanded the release of its operatives and the return of the seized cargo. The shipment consisted of 250 kilograms of TNT-type explosives and 250 kilograms of C4. Lebanese authorities have rejected both demands so far.

Hussein Hajj Hassan, a member of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc, called the charges unfair and unjust. He alleged the indictment violated the National Pact, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the United Nations Charter. He stated that the detainees were performing a national duty to protect the Lebanese people.

Hajj Hassan argued that the resistance fighters were confronting an Israeli enemy threatening Lebanon's existence. He added that the defendants had no connection to the accusations leveled by parties within and outside the government. Recent polling indicates that most Lebanese citizens want Hezbollah disarmed and for the elected government to hold sole authority over military decisions.

Foreign Minister Joe Rajji spoke on Saturday at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain to address Iran's influence in the country. He said Lebanon would no longer allow its territory to be used to threaten the security of Arab countries. Rajji stressed that foreign policy decisions must be made in Beirut and that national security is the exclusive responsibility of the state.

Rajji stated that Lebanon has suffered from the instrumentalization of armed organizations for foreign interests. He noted that this process has hijacked national decision-making to serve regional agendas that are foreign to the interests of the Lebanese people. The incident occurs as Israel awaits evidence that Beirut can contain the threat posed by Hezbollah to secure a lasting ceasefire.