Secret Apartments, Maps and “Sniper Rifles”: Investigation Sheds Light on Hezbollah Activities in Northern Lebanon
Lebanese security sources said that preliminary questioning of five Hezbollah members arrested in the mountainous areas of Batroun and Bsharri is uncovering indications of organised activity. This allegedly included reconnaissance in northern Lebanon, preparations to reorganise local groups, and assessments of their weapons and support requirements. The relevant authorities are continuing to investigate the nature of these groups and the extent of their ties to Hezbollah.
According to the sources, information emerging from the investigation suggests that the detainees were not acting alone but were operating within a wider monitoring and support network. An apartment in Benhran, in Koura district, was allegedly used for logistical purposes, while documents seized from the suspects revealed two action plans concerning Tripoli and Koura.
Investigators have yet to determine whether the groups mentioned in the documents are existing cells whose activities and responsibilities were being reorganised, or groups Hezbollah intended to establish in the coming period.
A Logistics Apartment and External Support
According to the security sources, one of the investigation’s most significant findings concerns the detainees’ mobile phones, which they allegedly left in an apartment in Benhran before travelling to the mountainous area where they were arrested.
Other individuals suspected of having links to the group reportedly rushed to the apartment as soon as news of the arrests emerged. They allegedly removed the phones and some documents before security forces arrived.
The sources said the Information Branch is working to identify these individuals, along with others believed to have monitored the five suspects’ movements remotely. Investigators are seeking to establish the nature of the group’s assignment and who supervised it.
According to the sources, the existence of a logistics apartment and individuals tasked with monitoring movements and retrieving items points to organised activity extending beyond the five detainees. However, these elements alone are insufficient to establish the presence of active armed cells in the area.
Action Plans for Tripoli and Koura
The sources said that investigators had managed to piece together fragments of documents the suspects had attempted to tear up inside their vehicle. The papers contained two action plans for Tripoli and Koura, as well as names and tasks assigned to groups with specific designations, including the “Rachkida Group” and the “Koura Group”.
According to the sources, the documents included references to weapons, including the term “sniper rifles”, along with requests for support, photographs and equipment. These findings strengthened suspicions of operational preparations extending beyond geographical reconnaissance.
Security agencies are continuing to cross-check the names and routes mentioned in the documents against the information available to them. They are seeking to determine whether the papers refer to existing local groups or to plans to establish new operational locations and groups.
The investigation is also examining the relationship between the detainees and the individuals named in the documents, including whether the five men had been assigned to coordinate other groups’ activities or prepare for their formation.
Investigators have also expanded their inquiries to examine the detainees’ links to the “Charitable Association for the Revitalisation of the Five Villages”, which is based in Benhran. The sources said security agencies are scrutinising those relationships and whether any civilian premises or contacts were used to facilitate the suspects’ movements.
Inquiries are continuing in Koura and Batroun to locate other individuals who may be connected to the group’s activities or to the apartment from which the phones were removed.
Hezbollah Seeks Their Release, Prosecutors Refuse
Alongside the investigation, Hezbollah intervened in the case after MP Hussein Hajj Hassan acknowledged that the five detainees belonged to the party and called for their release. The public prosecution rejected the request and insisted that judicial proceedings continue.
Hezbollah also placed the detainees on the same footing as its members held by Israel, adding a political dimension to a case that remains under criminal investigation.
According to the available judicial information, investigators are proceeding based on the suspects’ individual responsibility for the alleged acts and the seized evidence, rather than their membership of Hezbollah alone.
The case now awaits the outcome of a confrontation session scheduled for Friday. Meanwhile, efforts continue to identify those who removed the phones and to establish the nature of the groups and individuals mentioned in the seized documents.
Concerns over a Parallel Security Structure
Military and strategic affairs researcher Mohammad Youssef al-Nour believes the case raises suspicions that Hezbollah may be seeking to expand its security apparatus beyond its traditional areas of influence. This could involve reorganising local groups or establishing new networks that would enable it to gather intelligence and operate in areas where it has no declared military presence.
Al-Nour argues that a logistics apartment, external support and documents assigning tasks and requesting weapons are difficult to reconcile with an account of routine civilian movements. In his view, these findings warrant an investigation into the possibility of organised security activity.
If substantiated, he says, such a plan would amount to an attempt to build a security structure parallel to state institutions in northern Lebanon. This would threaten local stability and increase the risk of communal friction, particularly if the groups named in the documents were found to be involved in armed activities.
Al-Nour concludes that Hezbollah’s demand for the detainees’ release and its description of them as prisoners raise concerns about an attempt to turn a criminal case into a political confrontation with the judiciary. Responsibility, he stresses, should be determined by the evidence, irrespective of party affiliation.
