BEIRUT, Oct 15 (Reuters) - A Hezbollah lawmaker said on Thursday that hundreds of kilograms of explosives seized last week by Lebanese security forces belonged to his group, as tensions persist over the government's push to disarm the Iran-backed movement.
Lebanese authorities stopped the explosives-laden vehicle at a checkpoint in the eastern Bekaa region last week and arrested two people in the car.
At the time, authorities did not say who the vehicle belonged to, prompting widespread worry in Lebanon
that the explosives were intended for car bomb assassinations or other destabilising attacks inside the country.
Speaking to reporters at the Lebanese parliament on Thursday, lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Hezbollah had intended to use the explosives against Israel, whose troops are occupying swathes of Lebanese territory seized in this year's war.
PRESIDENT CALLS FOR ISRAELI COMPLIANCE
A Hezbollah official and a Lebanese security source told Reuters that the explosives seized in the car last week were intended to be used in explosive drones targeting Israeli troops.
Fadlallah said Hezbollah had immediately contacted security agencies to clarify that it owned the vehicle and the cargo, and to demand the materials be returned and those detained be released.
Fadlallah's acknowledgment reflects Hezbollah's efforts to continue transporting weapons across Lebanon despite the government's vow to bring all arms in the country under state control.
On March 2, the government specifically banned Hezbollah's military activities, hours after the movement launched rockets at Israel to back up Tehran, pulling Lebanon into the regional war begun by US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The government decision was an attempt to reverse the relative freedom Hezbollah had enjoyed for years in transporting military equipment across Lebanon.
The group's main arms supply route through Syria was severed when its ally, then-president Bashar al-Assad, was ousted in late 2024. The new Syrian authorities have regularly announced seizures of weapons along their border with Lebanon that they say are intended for Hezbollah.
Throughout 2025, Lebanese troops seized and destroyed Hezbollah weapons depots in southern Lebanon in line with the government's plan to exert state control over all weapons, but that roadmap was put on pause when the new war erupted.
President Joseph Aoun told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a telephone call on Thursday that the Lebanese army and security forces were fully carrying out decisions to prevent armed displays, confiscate weapons and ammunition, and combat smuggling, the presidency said.
Aoun said recent measures taken by the security services fell within that effort, and said judicial authorities would pursue all cases referred to them, with no leniency for offenders.
Under a deal reached through US-brokered talks between Lebanon and Israel this year, Beirut has vowed to disarm Hezbollah, which would in turn lead to Israeli troops gradually withdrawing from Lebanon.
But Hezbollah has refused to disarm as long as Israeli forces remain on Lebanese land and Israel has continued carrying out strikes across southern Lebanon. Israel says its actions in the area are aimed against Hezbollah.
Aoun asked Rubio to pressure Israel to halt what the presidency described as attacks on southern Lebanese towns and villages, comply with the framework agreement, stop bulldozing work and allow farmers to reach their land without being targeted, the presidency said.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Jana Choukeir and Tala Ramadan; Writing by Jana Choukeir and Maya Gebeily; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Andrew Heavens)
