Lebanese Military Court Judge Ghada Abu Alwan issued arrest warrants on Tuesday against four Hezbollah members accused of smuggling weapons into southern Lebanon, the Kataeb Party and Lebanese media outlets reported.
Two of the suspects admitted to transporting 21 Grad missiles, 3,000 rounds of ammunition, and eight machine guns from the Bekaa Valley to southern Lebanon after being arrested in the Mount Lebanon area, London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported, citing a judicial source.
The suspects said they had been moving the weapons to confront the IDF and claimed the attacks were protected under international law as an act of resistance.
Alwan issued the arrest warrants in absentia. He ordered their detention based on charges filed by Judge Claude Ghanem, the government commissioner to the Military Court, for the unlicensed possession and transportation of weapons and for exposing Lebanon to hostile actions.
Another two Hezbollah members were being questioned by Military Investigative Judge George Mezher in connection with the alleged transportation of six machine guns and four pistols.
A few weeks ago, Lebanon banned military activities by Hezbollah in response to the terrorist group’s attacks against Israel following the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Lawyer requests charges be dismissed
A lawyer representing the suspects reportedly requested that the charges be dismissed and that they be released on bail. The judge would likely reject the petition, a judicial source told local media outlets.
The weapons likely would be transferred to the custody of the Lebanese military, the source added.
Dozens of Hezbollah-affiliated lawyers tried to pressure the judge into considering the smuggling attempt as a misdemeanor and not a felony, the Greater Lebanon news site reported.
The suspects are being held under Article 288 of the Penal Code, in conjunction with Article 24 of the Military Justice Law, which constitutes a felony rather than a misdemeanor, LBCI Lebanon news site reported.
The lawyers reportedly hope to avoid a precedent from being set that would allow judges to more easily detain members of the terrorist group.
Protests reportedly broke out outside the presidential palace in support of the Hezbollah detainees, local media outlets reported.
In a separate case, four Hezbollah members were acquitted by a military court on March 9 after a six-day detention, during which they each paid bail equivalent to $21, Lebanese English-language newspaper L’Orient Today reported.