The Lebanese state currently lacks decisive answers regarding the entry of smuggled weapons through the Port of Tripoli, as well as sufficient information on how these weapons importers managed to remove them from the port without detection, or the failure of scanning devices to identify them. This raises questions once again about the condition of maritime ports and the situation at both legal and illegal land border crossings.
A chance event led to the discovery of weapon smuggling operations when a truck caught fire last Monday night in the Batroun area while en route from Tripoli to Beirut. During the intervention to extinguish the fire, security forces discovered a hidden stash containing more than 300 military pistols along with their magazines. The following day, the army announced the seizure of a second truck loaded with 400 military pistols.
According to a security source, the mentioned weapons are Turkish-made Retay pistols imported from Turkey. The source confirmed to "Asharq Al-Awsat" that the Public Prosecutor, Judge Jamal Al-Hajjar, has tasked the Military Intelligence's investigation branch with conducting the necessary investigations to identify the owners of the weapons and understand why security forces at the Port of Tripoli failed to intercept them.
The security source indicated that seven trucks arrived at Tripoli Port last Sunday, having been transported on a ship coming from Turkey and entering Lebanese territory. The fire incident contributed to the uncovering of these weapons. Preliminary investigations of the two truck drivers, who are Turkish nationals, revealed that the pistols belong to a Palestinian named Mohammad Ali Hamdan, a resident of the Mieh Mieh refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
The discovery of the smuggled weapons has heightened security readiness at Tripoli Port, but it has also raised concerns about the possibility of similar shipments previously entering without detection. The source noted that the army tracked the remaining five trucks and confirmed that they were loaded with oils and food products, free of weapons. It was also noted that the Palestinian owner of the weapons has gone into hiding and is currently being pursued. It has been established that Hamdan imports these weapons for trade and to sell them in the camps, not for carrying out operations in Lebanese territory.
The fortuitous nature of this discovery brought to mind a previous incident involving a weapon-laden truck in the Kehaleh area of Mount Lebanon, linked to Hezbollah, highlighting the possibility that many weapons have entered Lebanon, whether for political factions or traders, without clarity on their fate.
Former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud commented that what remains concealed is potentially greater than what has been revealed regarding the arms imports into Lebanon. In a statement to "Asharq Al-Awsat," he argued that Lebanon's civilian roads are now open to trucks carrying weapons, endangering civilian lives and potentially leading to an incident similar to the Beirut port explosion, albeit with a lesser degree of risk.
Baroud stated that despite the security forces' heightened alert and the Lebanese army's mobilization, the country faces a challenging security situation due to the proliferation of illegal arms and the existence of security enclaves throughout Lebanon, which could be exploited at any time to destabilize the internal situation.
Days have passed since the investigation into this incident began, yet the state has not provided an official narrative explaining how these trucks bypassed all security measures. Baroud does not conceal the existing problems in managing security in Lebanon, which are significantly tied to political decisions that prevent security agencies from combating this phenomenon. He added that despite the efforts and hard work of security services, some entities are actively working to undermine these efforts for their own interests. He reminded that the issue is not merely related to the financial crisis, as there are donors who provided scanner devices as gifts to curb smuggling operations, but these devices have been deliberately sabotaged to continue smuggling activities, not only of weapons but also of goods to evade taxes. Undoubtedly, the issue of arms smuggling poses a greater danger and threat to the country's security.
