Latest news with #Baalbek
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Mayadeen
Twelve martyrs in Israeli airstrikes on Bekaa, Baalbek: Lebanon
The Israeli occupation carried out a series of airstrikes on Tuesday targeting several areas in Lebanon, including Bouday, the vicinity of Shmestar, and Wadi Umm Ali in the western Baalbek district, according to Al Mayadeen's correspondent. Initial reports from the Public Health Emergency Operations Center at Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health confirmed that twelve civilians were killed and six were injured in the attacks. The occupation also launched airstrikes on the town of Brital in the Bekaa region, as part of its ongoing assault on Lebanese towns and villages. Israel just carried out a series of airstrikes on several residential areas in Lebanon, violated Security Council resolution SCR 1701, ceasefire agreement, and international law with absolutely no has the right to defend itself under international law. latest strikes are part of a broader campaign of continuous Israeli aggression against areas in the south, the Bekaa, and Beirut's southern suburb, while "Israel" continues to occupy five border points in southern Lebanon in an ongoing violation of the ceasefire agreement. Since the ceasefire officially took effect on November 27, 2024, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have resulted in the martyrdom of 203 people, according to updated figures. This comes amid US-Israeli pressure to disarm the Islamic Resistance, which has fully committed to the ceasefire brokered in November 2024. The US Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, has issued a series of pointed threats to Lebanon, declaring that the country faces existential risks, including collapse or foreign domination, if it does not fully disarm the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon (Hezbollah). His comments, made in an interview with The National on Friday, reflect escalating US pressure on Lebanon to dismantle its national resistance. "You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn't move, it's going to be Bilad Al Sham again," Barrack said, invoking the historic name for Greater Syria, adding that "Syrians say Lebanon is our beach resort. So we need to move." In language criticized by observers as condescending and overtly interventionist, Barrack positioned the "disarmament" of the Resistance not as a domestic Lebanese decision, but as a prerequisite for US and Gulf financial aid. Read more: Flame of resistance will remain ignited: Hezbollah's Sheikh Qassem
Arab News
14-07-2025
- Arab News
Lebanese army destroys major captagon and crystal meth lab, seals off tunnel
The Lebanese army has dismantled what it described as one of the largest captagon pill-manufacturing labs discovered to date in Yammoune in the Baalbek region of eastern Lebanon. Army chiefs said on Monday that forces raided the facility 24 hours earlier. 'After the Intelligence Directorate obtained information about a major captagon pill lab in the town of Yammoune, a patrol from the directorate, supported by a unit from the army, carried out a raid on the lab,' it said. 'The personnel dismantled the equipment and machinery used, weighing about 10 tonnes, and destroyed part of it.' The patrol also 'seized a huge quantity of captagon pills, crystal meth, and various other narcotic substances.' Army chiefs added: 'The lab contained a tunnel used for entry and exit, and army personnel brought in a bulldozer and filled in the tunnel, which was approximately 300 meters long.' The tunnel was 'also used to store part of the lab's equipment.' The statement did not reveal who was operating the lab or whether anyone was arrested during the raid. 'The seized materials are now in the custody of the security agencies,' it said. 'An investigation has begun under the supervision of the competent judiciary, and efforts are ongoing to arrest those involved.'
The National
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
Lebanon dismantles 'major' Captagon factory
Lebanon 's army says it has dismantled a major Captagon factory after finding a 300-metre tunnel used to deliver and store materials for the lab. The military said the site in Yammouneh, about 25km from the city of Baalbek, was 'one of the largest labs' raided to date. It said it seized about 10 tonnes of equipment and machinery and destroyed a 'large quantity of Captagon pills, crystal meth and various narcotics'. Work is now under way to find the people who operated the factory, the Lebanese Armed Forces added. They published footage of the raid, a bulldozer filling in the tunnel and the burning of some of the material captured. In May, the Lebanese army seized a large quantity of Captagon pills and dismantled a laboratory used to produce the drugs in a raid near the border with Syria. Also that month, the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam pledged to continue the fight against Captagon smuggling in an interview with The National. The illegal export of the drug has strained relations with Gulf states in recent years. 'We are looking to facilitate exports to Gulf countries, and we must do our part to ensure that red lines are not crossed, particularly those that have concerned Gulf states in the past, like the trafficking of Captagon through Lebanon,' Mr Salam said at the time. 'These drugs were produced in Syria, passed through Lebanon, took on a Lebanese cover, and were exported from here. Today, with the tightening of our border with the Syrian regime, smuggling and drug exports are more controlled. But that doesn't mean the problem is over.' The often porous Syria-Lebanon border has long led to rampant smuggling of people, weapons and drugs. Captagon was state-produced on a mass scale in Syria during the last years of the Bashar Al Assad regime, providing a vital income source to help prop up the cash-strapped government during the prolonged civil war. The drug was often smuggled into Lebanon through border areas where Hezbollah – the Lebanese armed group and political party that supported the Assad regime – held sway. Mr Al Assad was overthrown in a rebel offensive in December. Syria's new rulers have sought to eliminate production networks and publicly destroyed seizures of large amounts of the drug. Lebanon often seizes of vast amounts of Captagon and other drugs. In 2023, an estimated 10 million Captagon pills meant to be smuggled to Senegal and then on to Saudi Arabia were intercepted. In April 2021, Saudi Arabia suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon after it said shipments were being used as cover for drug smuggling.
LBCI
14-07-2025
- LBCI
Lebanese Army dismantles major Captagon factory in Yammouneh, Baalbek
The Lebanese Army announced that it had dismantled on Sunday one of the largest drug manufacturing facilities uncovered to date in the town of Yammouneh, Baalbek. According to an army statement, a patrol from the Directorate of Intelligence, backed by a military unit, raided the Captagon production site based on intelligence gathered by the directorate. Forces dismantled about 10 tons of machinery used in the operation. Part of the equipment was destroyed on-site, while large quantities of Captagon pills and other narcotics were seized. A bulldozer was brought in to seal a 300-meter tunnel connected to the facility, which had been used for access, escape, and storage. The seized materials are now in custody, and an investigation is underway under judicial supervision. Efforts to arrest those responsible are ongoing.
Al Arabiya
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Lebanese army says seizes ‘one of the largest' captagon factories to date
The Lebanese army said on Monday it dismantled 'one of the largest' captagon factories during a raid in the northeastern Baalbek province near neighboring Syria, previously the largest exporter of the amphetamine-like narcotic. In a statement, the army said that 'after the intelligence directorate received information about a major captagon pill factory in the town of Yammouneh, Baalbek, a patrol from the directorate, supported by an army unit, raided the factory.' The military added that the factory 'turned out to be one of the largest factories seized to date.' Soldiers dismantled the machinery and seized a 'large quantity' of pills, though the army did not specify how many. Captagon became Syria's largest export following the eruption of the civil war in 2011, and a key source of illicit funding for former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government. In Lebanon, al-Assad's ally Hezbollah also faced accusations of using the captagon trade to finance itself. The drug has flooded the region, with neighboring countries occasionally announcing captagon seizures and asking Lebanon and Syria to ramp up efforts to combat the trade. With AFP
