In early July, Lebanese security forces raided a Beirut neighborhood after Hezbollah-affiliated gunmen marched in the streets during a Shi’ite Ashura festival. The Lebanese government said the public display of arms was “unacceptable,” and men were detained after the July 5 raids.
However, a new report at the pro-Iran Al-Akhbar in Lebanon says that the men appear to have been released. This raises serious questions about whether Lebanon’s government will ever really crack down on illegal arms, or whether it merely likes to do a show of force and then paper over things.
The details emerged about this case as US envoy Tom Barrack visited Beirut on Monday. He said the US was using its influence to help Lebanon. However, he stressed that there wouldn’t be consequences necessarily if things didn’t move in the direction the US would prefer.
He also said the US wouldn’t compel Israel to stop airstrikes. As such, he was asserting that the US is working to bring peace and tranquility, but that this is via influence and discussions.
The reports about the armed men detained in Lebanon unfolded like this: Arab News said on July 5 that “military and security forces carried out raids in the Zuqaq al-Blat area of Beirut on Saturday morning in search of armed men who had joined a rally on Friday commemorating Ashura, a military source reported.”
It noted this was in response to “video footage of the event showing young masked men dressed in black, holding machine guns and chanting religious and partisan slogans as they marched through a Beirut street, has drawn nationwide condemnation.” Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam denounced the armed men.
Arrests had been ordered. Now Al-Akhbar in Lebanon says that the detainees were released. It says that the decision to carry out a “show trial” was also canceled.
Pro-Hezbollah media claims gunmen not affiliated with Hezbollah
“Over the past week, security forces arrested nine militants participating in the Ashura procession in Beirut’s Zqaq al-Blat neighborhood. Sources indicated that all of the detainees have no connection to Hezbollah or even to the Lebanese Brigades,” the report said.
This is from a media that is considered sympathetic to Hezbollah.
The report said the government had arrested nine men who were seen armed in the video. “Judicial sources revealed to Al-Akhbar that all detainees were released in two stages over the past two days, with the exception of one person. They indicated that none of the detainees has any connection to Hezbollah, nor even to the Lebanese Brigades.
“They pointed out that investigations revealed that the march was not organized, as the participants were volunteers at an Ashura gathering, and that they held a self-flagellation session during which one of them distributed weapons to his colleagues, due to the recent tension surrounding the issue of weapons.”
The report claims that Hezbollah contacted the wanted men and encouraged them to surrender to the government. The Shi’ite Amal movement was also involved in the deal, the report says.
Basically, this was a way to hand the government of Lebanon a kind of “win” and then have the men quietly released, apparently, so that all sides get the “win” they want. This is the usual method in Lebanon. Publicly saying one thing and doing the opposite, so that Hezbollah can keep its weapons.
Al-Akhbar, the media that is sympathetic to Hezbollah, noted, “Sources confirm that all the wanted individuals have surrendered, with the exception of two individuals who were in the process of doing so. One of them was arrested in Sidon by the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch, and the other was arrested in Jezzine by a Lebanese Army force.”
Meanwhile, Barrack was asked about Hezbollah disarmament and appeared to say that this was an internal issue in Lebanon.
“If it doesn’t happen, we will be disappointed,” he said. However, he said there were no consequences on the table if things didn’t go the way the US wanted. “We are here on a voluntary basis to usher in a solution.”
He was also asked about Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, saying the US can’t compel Israel to stop the strikes. “We are here to use our influence,” he said. “We can only influence; we won’t have more boots on the ground in an adversarial nature.”
He said the US wants to bring peace and tranquility to the region. He said the same thing about Syria, expressing empathy for the victims of the recent clashes in Sweida.