Rubio Tells Aoun the Seized Hezbollah Explosives Must Not Go Back, and Beirut Replies With Israel’s Strikes
Rubio told Lebanon’s Aoun that returning seized explosives to Hezbollah is out of the question, while Aoun asked Washington to stop Israeli strikes.
In this article
Context
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio telephoned Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday 15 October. According to a State Department official, he told Aoun that returning the explosives seized from Hezbollah “should be out of the question.”
Hezbollah had already asked for them back. Its MP Hassan Fadlallah said, “The explosives belong to the resistance, and we requested their return.”
Aoun’s office described the same call differently. In its account, he asked Rubio to press Israel to stop its attacks in the south, to honour the framework agreement signed in June and to end land-clearing operations.
Why is the US pressing Lebanon over Hezbollah’s explosives? Because, in the State Department official’s account, Rubio wants the cargo kept and the people who ordered and financed it held to account.
Key takeaways
Rubio asked for three things, as the State Department official relayed them: no return of the explosives, accountability for whoever ordered and paid for the shipment, and direct military contact between Lebanese and Israeli forces. Aoun’s office answered with the army’s record and a request that Israel stop its strikes. Hezbollah says the cargo is its own and wants it and the two detainees back. On 15 October, Information Minister Paul Morcos said the draft decree referring the case to the Judicial Council had not yet reached ministers.
What was said
An Internal Security Forces checkpoint at Dahr al-Baidar, on the road from the Bekaa towards Beirut, stopped a vehicle on Thursday 8 October and detained two men. A judicial source told AFP the load was 250 kilograms of TNT and 250 kilograms of C-4.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam wrote on X on 12 October: “We will not be lenient in following up and expanding the investigation.” He added that Lebanese worries were understandable because C-4 “has been used in a number of political assassinations” in the country, in the Times of Israel’s rendering of his post.
Hezbollah answered through Fadlallah. Asharq Al-Awsat reported that he described the vehicle and its cargo as belonging to the resistance, to be used against Israel, and that the group demanded the immediate release of those arrested. LBCI carried his line about the request for their return. Arab News quoted him saying “the resistance’s weapons are directed at the Israeli enemy.”
Rubio’s call followed on 15 October. A State Department official, unnamed, said Rubio “underscored that returning explosives to (Hezbollah) should be out of the question,” as the Jerusalem Post relayed it. The National reported that the same official said Rubio urged accountability for those who ordered, financed and directed the shipment. The official called Lebanon’s 1955 Boycott Law impractical, saying it is used for politicised prosecutions that deter efforts towards peace with Israel. Rubio also urged direct military-to-military communication between Lebanese and Israeli forces for deconfliction. No readout from Rubio himself has appeared.
The Lebanese presidency’s account, as LBCI carried it, has Aoun asking Rubio to press Israel to stop its attacks in southern Lebanon, honour the framework agreement, end land-clearing and let farmers reach their fields. He told Rubio the army and security forces were enforcing the ban on armed displays and seizing weapons, and that judicial authorities were following referred cases. Per the Presidential Palace, quoted by Arab News, “there will be no leniency toward perpetrators, and the law will be applied without any favoritism.” Arab News also reported Aoun saying that the US-mediated talks with Israel had slowed, which “does not mean they have stopped.”
Analysis
What is the Trilateral Framework for Lebanon?
Aoun’s framework is the agreement signed in June between Lebanon, Israel and the United States. The National describes a phased process: the Lebanese army restores state authority and disarms non-state militias, Hezbollah among them, while Israel withdraws progressively from Lebanese territory.
Lebanon’s own step came earlier. A government decision of 2 March banned all military and security activity by Hezbollah, according to LBCI. Fadlallah has warned the authorities against persisting with measures taken against the resistance.
Analysis
How the statements connect
Rubio’s call and Aoun’s call share a date and a counterpart, and the readouts share almost nothing else. The State Department official’s account, as reported, carries no mention of Israeli strikes. The presidency’s account, as reported, answers on the explosives only with the army’s record and the pledge of “no leniency.”
The ground Aoun describes is large. Arab News, citing Israeli media, reports that Israel’s security zone in southern Lebanon covers about 700 square kilometres, that more than 60 villages inside it have been largely levelled and that about 200,000 residents remain displaced. Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that if Hezbollah joined Iran in attacking Israel, Israel would take more territory and strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, as Silent Dossier reported when Katz threatened Nabatieh. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, visiting Beirut, said the chances of political understandings were “almost nonexistent” and reaffirmed Tehran’s support for Hezbollah’s weapons, per Arab News.
Inside the government the words and the paperwork are at different stages. Justice Minister Adel Nassar said investigations would identify those who incited the operation and owned the explosives. Morcos said the referral decree had not yet reached ministers. An unnamed senior Lebanese official told Arab News that Hezbollah’s positions “remain within the media sphere, and we do not respond to them.”
The Boycott Law runs through a second dispute. This Is Beirut reported that a pro-Hezbollah lawyer filed a complaint against Lebanon’s ambassador in Washington, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, after reports that she had contacted Israel’s ambassador. The same outlet’s sources said Washington wants a clear timetable for the framework and verification mechanisms.
What to watch
The first marker is the Cabinet and whether the referral decree to the Judicial Council that Morcos described reaches ministers. The second is the cargo and the two detainees, which Hezbollah has asked for and which the State Department official says must not be handed back. The third is the military channel Rubio proposed, which Aoun’s office did not mention in its account.
On the evidence so far, Washington has asked Beirut to name and charge whoever ran the shipment, and Beirut has said that the judiciary is following the case. The decree and the cargo will show which statement was the commitment.
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