Charges filed against 4 Hezbollah members for carrying arms and missiles
State Commissioner to the Military Court, Judge Claude Ghanem, on Monday filed charges against four more Hezbollah members for possessing and transporting military weapons, media reports said.
Two of them had been arrested in Ashrafieh, where guns and rifles were found inside their car. According to initial investigations, they were heading south, Al-Jadeed TV said.
The two other members were also indicted on felony charges after an army search at a checkpoint in the southern town of Kfarhouna revealed the presence of weapons and 21 122mm rockets inside a van they were traveling in, which was also heading toward the southern border, Al-Jadeed added.
Lebanese authorities have been seeking to pressure Hezbollah after Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when the Tehran-backed group's attack on Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes.
A judicial official told AFP that the judge has referred the case "to the first investigating judge in Beirut... requesting they be questioned and arrest warrants issued."
Earlier this month, three Hezbollah members were released on bail of around $20 each after being questioned in the military court over the possession of unlicensed military weapons, in a move that sparked controversy and anger.
Beirut banned Hezbollah's military and security activities this month after its attack on Israel triggered the latest war.
Israel has since launched broad air raids on Lebanon and ground incursions into border areas, and its army said on Monday that it had begun "targeted ground operations against key Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon".
Last year in the wake of a 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanese authorities committed to disarming the group, and the army had been doing so in the area near the Israeli border before the latest hostilities erupted.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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