Earlier this week, Lebanese officials seized a truckload of explosives in the northeastern Hermel region, leading to accusations from some of the officials of an impending Hezbollah assassination campaign involving bombs.
On Thursday, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah confirmed that the explosives belonged to the group, but insisted that there was no assassination program, and that the explosives were intended exclusively for the group’s militant faction to resist Israel’s ongoing invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon.
Fadlallah called on the government to release the two men detained with the truck, and to return the explosives to the group, saying the contents of the truck “belong to the resistance.” He further accused the government of abandoning its responsibility to protect the country.
A Hezbollah member participating in a 2023 training exercise | Image is CC 4.0
Earlier this week another Hezbollah MP, Ibrahim al-Moussawi, had also rejected the allegation that the group was planning assassinations, while insisting that self-defense was the group’s natural right and similarly saying the government and military had failed to stop the invasion.
The Lebanese government has been trying to ban Hezbollah’s militant wing outright, and impose a full monopoly on weaponry to the military. Hezbollah has rejected those disarmament calls, however, citing the ongoing threats of Israeli occupation as proof the organization needs to exist.
Fadlallah claimed the allegations of assassination plots were meant to sow division and undermine Hezbollah’s position, saying the government’s moves against Hezbollah primarily served the interests of Israel and the US, not of Lebanon itself.
