75 rockets found in southern Lebanon
Lebanese security forces find arms cache suspected of belonging to militant Islamist group
The Lebanese army seized 75 "Grad" missiles suspected of belonging to the extreme al-Jamaa al-Islamiya militant group. Security officials in Lebanon said Saturday that the missiles were found in a flour mill in the village of al-Biri in southern Lebanon.
A Lebanese security force broke into the home of a Lebanese resident of the village Friday night, and confiscated a cache of 75 missiles 107 mm in diameter.
Authorities arrested the owner of the flour mill along with his wife, son, cousin and another man. The Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that the man is a known arms dealer.
The security officials said the missiles were over 10 years old and had previously been stored in the Shebaa Farms area, next to Lebanon's border with Israel. They were moved to al-Biri before UN peacekeepers were deployed on the border over the summer.
In recent days, there were a number of reports of Lebanese armament, in preparation for some sort of impending conflict. Among the scenarios posited was civil war.
Hizbullah and Syria's political rivals, affiliated with the "March 14th" coalition, claimed this week that, in recent days, weapons smuggling from Syria to Lebanon has increased, via the Bekaa valley.
A statement by the group claimed that intensified activity by forces tied to Syrian intelligence had been felt along the border.
These forces deal with smuggling trucks of weapons to sensitive areas of Lebanon, particularly in the western Bekaa valley and the hills, the statement continued.
A March 14th coalition member in parliament said that the Lebanese military was doing its best to combat such smuggling, but was not equipped with adequate resources to properly address the issue.
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah refuted the accusations regarding weapons smuggling in an interview Friday, saying that the use of arms constituted a "red line" that his party would not cross. He emphasized the fact that his party did not use arms even pursuant to a recent death of a protestor from the organization.
The March 14th coalition keeps talking about these trucks, but we have nothing to do with them, Nasrallah added.
The Saudi Al-Watan newspaper recently reported that Syria has begun digging trenches and gravel barricades along its border with Lebanon, in order to prevent smuggling.
These reports were confirmed by the head of Syrian customs General Hassan Makhlouf.
The news agencies contributed to this report
