{"version":"1.9","identifier":"931ae67d-e0cb-47e2-b507-ea10bb384acd","language":"en-US","title":"Lebanon Charges 13 Over Seized Explosives Truck as Hezbollah Demands Shipment Back","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/lebanon-explosives-truck-charges-13-hezbollah-dahr-al-baydar-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-03T04:33:31.195232Z","dateModified":"2026-11-03T04:34:07.951028Z","authors":["567 Politics staff"],"excerpt":"Two accused are in custody and 11 are charged in absentia. Hezbollah calls the case political; the cabinet has delayed sending it to the top criminal court.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/931ae67d-e0cb-47e2-b507-ea10bb384acd/e0e41f5b5f81ef7efb9e0203cbfc4c51.jpg","keywords":["world"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Lebanon Charges 13 Over Seized Explosives Truck as Hezbollah Demands Shipment Back","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Two accused are in custody and 11 are charged in absentia. Hezbollah calls the case political; the cabinet has delayed sending it to the top criminal court.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567 Politics staff · Published November 3, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/931ae67d-e0cb-47e2-b507-ea10bb384acd/e0e41f5b5f81ef7efb9e0203cbfc4c51.jpg","caption":"Skyline of Beirut, Lebanon. Photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0). File image from an earlier date; it does not illustrate any claim in this story. · Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","accessibilityCaption":"Skyline of Beirut, Lebanon. Photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0). File image from an earlier date; it does not illustrate any claim in this story.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Skyline of Beirut, Lebanon. Photo by Vyacheslav Argenberg (CC BY 4.0). File image from an earlier date; it does not illustrate any claim in this story. · Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Lebanon's military prosecutor has charged 13 people over a truck of explosives seized this month on the road from the Bekaa Valley to Beirut. Two of the accused, both members of Hezbollah, are in custody. The other 11 are charged in their absence. Hezbollah has demanded the return of the explosives and the release of its members. It calls the case political. Lebanon's prime minister says storing or moving arms outside state institutions breaks the law. The case has split the cabinet over whether to send it to the country's highest criminal court.\n\nThis article covers what the charges say and what the parties have said. It also covers a dispute over how much explosive was seized. Lebanese, Hezbollah and Israeli officials are identified by title or by their official role. Allegations are attributed. Nothing in the sources 567 Politics opened shows a court has ruled.\n\n## What happened\n\nThe explosives were found at an Internal Security Forces checkpoint at Dahr al-Baydar, a mountain pass linking the Bekaa Valley and Beirut, Arab News reported. The vehicle was traveling from Baalbek toward Beirut. Army Intelligence ran the preliminary investigation, according to Arab News.\n\nThe amount is reported differently. Arab News gave \"about 800 kilograms\" of C-4 and TNT in its headline and text. The Jerusalem Post reported 250 kilograms of TNT-type explosive and 250 kilograms of C-4. That adds up to 500 kilograms, which the Post called a half-ton shipment. 567 Politics did not find an official total in the sources it opened.\n\nThe government's commissioner to the military court, Judge Claude Ghanem, filed charges on Friday, Oct. 30. The National News Agency's account, relayed by LBCI, said eight of the defendants are identified by name. Five more are known only by aliases. The charges include offenses against state security and violating government decisions. They also include possessing weapons and explosives, and forming illegal organizations meant to undermine state authority. LBCI said the offenses carry up to 10 years of hard labor.\n\nArab News listed the charge as belonging to armed factions without state authorization and planning to move large quantities of explosives from Baalbek to Beirut \"with the intention of undermining state authority.\" It named the two detained men as Haitham Ahmad Amhaz and Ali Shawqi al-Kurdi. It said six others are subject to search notices. One of them is a Russian national who is married to Amhaz. The Jerusalem Post said only the two men named remain in custody.\n\nMTV Lebanon reported on Sunday that security agencies had identified a man known as \"Abu Haidar,\" whose name came up when the two detainees were questioned. It said he will be charged under his real name. It said a military investigating judge was due to receive the file on Monday and question the two detainees within two days. That step would lead to arrest warrants. MTV did not say whether the hearing had happened.\n\n## What a judicial source said\n\nA judicial source told Arab News that prosecutors concluded the shipment was not an isolated smuggling case. The source said prosecutors believe it involved an organized network linked to armed factions that operate outside state authority. \"Political or partisan immunity will not stand in the way of judicial proceedings when civil peace, public stability and the enforcement of the law are at stake,\" the source said. These are allegations, not findings of a court.\n\nArab News also noted that the discovery fueled fear among some Lebanese that explosives could be used in political assassinations. That recalled the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It said no evidence linking this shipment to a planned assassination has been established. The Jerusalem Post said several Lebanese commentators had noted that the materials seized are of the type used in the truck bombing that killed Hariri. It reported that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon found Hezbollah members responsible for that attack.\n\n## What Hezbollah has said\n\nArab News reported that Hezbollah first denied any link to the shipment. Days later, it said, a Hezbollah member of parliament, Hassan Fadlallah, said at a news conference that the explosives belonged to what he called the \"resistance.\" He demanded their return. LBCI reported on Oct. 15 that a Hezbollah MP said the truck belonged to the group.\n\nThe Jerusalem Post reported that Hezbollah claimed the explosives were meant for Israel. After the charges, another Hezbollah MP, Hussein Hajj Hassan, called them \"unfair and unjust,\" according to the National News Agency, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post. He said they violate the National Pact, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Charter. \"The detainees and the other defendants were performing a national duty in defense of their country and the sovereignty of the state, and to protect the Lebanese people,\" he said. He said the accused \"were not in a position to harm the security or safety of the state, but were confronting the Israeli enemy.\" Arab News quoted him calling the detainees \"prisoners\" and saying the prosecution was \"subject to well-known political dictates.\"\n\nThe Jerusalem Post said Hezbollah's demands to release its members and return the explosives have so far been rejected.\n\n## What the government has said\n\nLebanon's prime minister told the cabinet on Thursday, Oct. 22, that the state's monopoly on weapons and its sole power over war and peace are \"no longer open to debate,\" as Asharq Al-Awsat summarized his remarks. \"No one can impose any limits on us other than those set by law,\" he said. He said storing or moving weapons outside authorized institutions violates the law and government decisions. He said it warrants investigation, prosecution and the harshest penalties. He said Hezbollah was being asked to honor commitments it had already accepted, \"nothing more, nothing less.\" He grounded this in Lebanon's constitution, the Taif Agreement, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the November 2024 cessation-of-hostilities agreement.\n\nLebanon's foreign minister spoke at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain on Saturday. \"Foreign policy is decided in Beirut, and national security is exclusively the responsibility of the state,\" he said, according to the National News Agency, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post. He said Lebanon \"will no longer accept its territory being used as a platform to threaten the security of its Arab brothers.\"\n\n## The cabinet dispute\n\nThe justice minister, Adel Nassar, has pushed to send the case to the Judicial Council, an exceptional court for crimes against state security. Asharq Al-Awsat reported that ministers from the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb parties backed him. Parliament's speaker and Hezbollah opposed the move over its possible effects. Referral needs a cabinet decree on the justice minister's recommendation.\n\nNaharnet reported that on Oct. 22 the cabinet decided to postpone any referral until the investigations conclude. Lebanese Forces ministers walked out in protest. Local media reported that the speaker had advised the prime minister and the president against a referral, to avoid a confrontation with Hezbollah. Reports said Amal and Hezbollah ministers attended after getting assurances of no surprise vote. The president urged restraint. He said he hoped regional challenges \"do not lead to escalation or an explosion.\"\n\nArab News reported that the justice minister and Lebanese Forces lawmakers asked the government to move the case to a civilian court by decree. The cabinet had not decided as of Oct. 30.\n\n## Why the case matters\n\nArab News called the case a significant test of the state's ability to assert authority over armed groups and of the judiciary's willingness to pursue politically sensitive prosecutions. It noted that in August the cabinet banned Hezbollah from military and security activity. The Jerusalem Post noted that Lebanese military courts have given light penalties before. It said four Hezbollah members were freed on symbolic bail of $21 in March after six days in detention for illegal weapons. That is the Post's account of a past case.\n\nThe Post also wrote that Israel is awaiting evidence that Beirut can contain Hezbollah as part of efforts for a lasting ceasefire. For related coverage, see 567 Politics' reports on [the Iran uranium dispute](https://567politics.com/news/iran-rules-out-uranium-transfer-nuclear-doctrine-npt-debate-november-2026), [Syria's talks with Lebanon and the Gulf](https://567politics.com/news/syria-mecca-defense-pact-saudi-turkey-pakistan-israel-south-suwayda-november-2026), [the Qeshm Island strikes](https://567politics.com/news/us-limited-strikes-qeshm-island-iran-defensive-vance-progress-november-2026) and [fighting in Yemen](https://567politics.com/news/yemen-fighting-al-jawf-taiz-lahij-houthis-saudi-airports-november-2026). On Monday, Lebanon's deputy prime minister led a delegation to Damascus. Asharq Al-Awsat said the talks covered border control, security coordination and Syrian refugees.\n\n## What is established and what is not","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"<table><tr><th>Question</th><th>Status</th><th>Source</th></tr><tr><td>13 people charged on Oct. 30</td><td>Reported by Lebanese and other outlets</td><td>Arab News, LBCI</td></tr><tr><td>Two in custody, others charged in absentia</td><td>Reported</td><td>Arab News, Jerusalem Post</td></tr><tr><td>Explosives were Hezbollah's</td><td>A Hezbollah MP said so</td><td>Arab News, LBCI</td></tr><tr><td>Total weight</td><td>About 500 kg or about 800 kg; not settled</td><td>Jerusalem Post, Arab News</td></tr><tr><td>Plan to assassinate someone</td><td>No evidence established</td><td>Arab News</td></tr><tr><td>Intended for Israel</td><td>Hezbollah's claim</td><td>Jerusalem Post</td></tr></table>","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"## Funding and financial-interest context\n\nNo U.S. politician is quoted in this article, so it makes no claims about U.S. campaign funding or financial interests. Lebanese, Hezbollah, Israeli, Syrian and Gulf officials are outside U.S. campaign-finance records.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}