Four explosive shipments seized in Lebanon this month: Were more shipments missed?

Report by Maroun Nassif, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Claude Ghanem has referred two explosives seizure cases to the Lebanese army’s Intelligence Directorate and the Internal Security Forces' Information Branch for further investigation.
 
The cases involve explosives intercepted at a Dahr El Baydar checkpoint operated by the Internal Security Forces on October 8, 2026, and a separate seizure by the Lebanese army in the border town of Al-Qasr overnight Sunday into Monday.

The referrals aim to expand the investigations and extract and analyze phone records belonging to the two men arrested at the Dahr El Baydar checkpoint. The detainees reportedly admitted to attempting to transport around 800 kilograms of C-4 and TNT explosives on behalf of Hezbollah.

According to LBCI sources, the operation in Al-Qasr, where the army seized around 200 kilograms of C-4 explosives carried on a donkey, was detected by a thermal surveillance camera installed in one of the watchtowers built by Britain along the eastern mountain range for the Lebanese army.

After suspicious movement was detected at around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, an army patrol headed toward the location of the donkey carrying the explosives. 

However, before the patrol arrived, two people accompanying the animal fled into Syrian territory through an illegal crossing. Their identities have not been established.

As of the preparation of this report, a security source following the case said investigations conducted by the Lebanese army and the Internal Security Forces under the supervision of the military court’s government commissioner had found no security link between the Dahr El Baydar and Al-Qasr operations.

Investigators have also yet to determine the purpose of transporting such large quantities of explosives from the Bekaa Valley to Beirut, including whether they were intended for attacks inside Lebanon or whether Hezbollah was seeking to move them to the south to plant explosive devices targeting the Israeli army, which occupies hundreds of square kilometers of Lebanese territory.

Four shipments of explosives and ammunition have been intercepted during October: the first was brought in from Syrian territory, the second was seized at Dahr El Baydar, and two others were intercepted in Al-Qasr.

The seizures have raised questions about whether additional shipments may have passed undetected by Lebanon’s security forces.