Sporadic Weapons Seizures Won’t Stop Hezbollah’s Rearmament

Hezbollah is still smuggling weapons across the Syrian-Lebanese border. On October 12, the Lebanese army seized approximately 200 kilograms of explosives being transported from Syria into Lebanon on a donkey’s back. The seizure followed active border surveillance. A week earlier, on October 5, Lebanese police unexpectedly intercepted nearly 800 kilograms of explosives and related materials reportedly destined for Hezbollah. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed to identify and prosecute those responsible. Yet whether detected through surveillance or by chance, sporadic seizures alone cannot stop Hezbollah’s rearmament or dismantle the networks sustaining it.

An Incidental Seizure Exposes Hezbollah’s Surviving Supply Routes

The October 5 incident entailed the interception by Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces of an overloaded vehicle at the Dahr al-Baidar checkpoint on the Bekaa-Beirut highway. Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar said its excessive weight prompted officers to search it.

The Lebanese daily Al Joumhouria identified the detained occupants as Haytham Amhaz and Ali al-Kurdi. Security sources told the Beirut-based news outlet Al Modon that the two collected the explosives in the Lebanese city of Baalbek from a Hezbollah figure known as “Sajed” for delivery to another operative, “Dhulfiqar,” in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

A parliamentary source close to Hezbollah and Amal told the London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsatthat Hezbollah’s liaison chief Hussein al-Abdallah contacted Lebanese military and security commanders seeking the explosives’ return, but was rebuffed.

A Lebanese military source told Saudi broadcaster Al Hadath that the shipment entered Lebanon from Syria and was stored in the Bekaa Valley before being transported toward Beirut. Lebanese news website LebTalks separately reported that different operatives coordinated the shipment’s entry from Syria and delivery to Beirut.

Former Assad Loyalists Keep Hezbollah’s Networks Alive

Damascus has disrupted, but not eliminated, Hezbollah’s Syrian smuggling networks. In July, Syrian authorities said they foiled an “attempt to smuggle a large shipment of sophisticated weapons across the Syrian-Iraqi border” destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The shipment reportedly included cruise missile components and anti-tank guided missiles. This was only one of numerous weapons seizures since the December 2024 fall of Bashar al-Assad, whose regime had allowed Hezbollah to use Syrian territory as a conduit for Iranian weapons and military equipment.

Hezbollah’s networks in Syria also involve former Assad regime loyalists. In September, Lebanese judicial authorities charged a network involving a former Syrian Air Force Intelligence colonel and a Hezbollah operative. It brought more than 40 former Assad military and security personnel into northern Lebanon through illegal crossings, trained them in drone operations and explosives, then returned them to Syria for operations. Likewise, the same network smuggled explosives, weapons, and disassembled drones from Lebanon into Syria, concealed in food-aid containers. These activities demonstrate that Hezbollah-linked networks continue to move personnel and military equipment across the frontier.

In May, Syrian authorities announced the arrest of another alleged Hezbollah-linked cell, with a former Assad regime soldier from Aleppo and a former Liwa al-Quds fighter identified among its members. Liwa al-Quds is a predominantly Syrian Palestinian paramilitary group that fought alongside Assad’s forces.

Washington Should Press Beirut To Implement a Credible Strategy To Prevent Hezbollah’s Rearmament

The Lebanese-Syrian border remains porous, with smuggling routes shifting among numerous illegal crossing points. Washington has praised Damascus for intercepting weapons shipments destined for Hezbollah. The next step should be to press Syria to deepen its cooperation with Beirut and shut down these smuggling routes from its side of the border.

The Trump administration should also continue pressing Beirut to adopt a credible strategy to prevent Hezbollah’s rearmament. Yet Washington and Beirut have paid far less attention to dismantling Hezbollah’s supply lines. Beirut cannot treat sporadic weapons seizures as evidence of a successful strategy. Washington should provide increased assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) contingent on disarmament and making measurable progress in disrupting and dismantling Hezbollah’s resupply routes.

David Daoud is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) focused on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs. Ahmad Sharawi is a senior research analyst at FDD focused on Syria and Iranian intervention in Arab affairs and the Levant. For more analysis from the authors, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow David on X @DavidADaoud. Follow Ahmad on X @AhmadA_Sharawi. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.