Lebanon Foils Plot to Smuggle Hashish from Sidon Port to Egypt

Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmy and security officers in front of the seized hashish shipment (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmy and security officers in front of the seized hashish shipment (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Lebanon Foils Plot to Smuggle Hashish from Sidon Port to Egypt

Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmy and security officers in front of the seized hashish shipment (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmy and security officers in front of the seized hashish shipment (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Lebanon has foiled a plot to smuggle four tons of hashish from Sidon to the Egyptian port of Alexandria

President Michel Aoun praised the security operation that thwarted the smuggling attempt of the KayfHash to Alexandria, saying it is an “achievement” for the Lebanese Customs.

Aoun stressed that cooperation and coordination between various security apparatuses achieve such results that show Lebanon's keenness to combat smuggling of all kinds and thwart all attempts that harm the country's reputation and its relations with brotherly and friendly countries, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

The NNA stated that the Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmy visited the old port of Sidon, after the Anti-Narcotics Office in South Lebanon, in coordination with Sidon’s customs office, managed to seize two trucks containing cannabis inside metal containers, ready to be transported for shipping.

Fahmy inspected the seized shipment, praising the distinguished coordination between the Customs Directorate, the Anti-Narcotics Office, and the Information Division, which led to this achievement.

He confirmed that Lebanon will soon have the most modern equipment, indicating that the operation is a completion of all the measures taken to end all kinds of smuggling networks.

The Acting Director-General of Customs, Raymond Khoury, spoke about the difficulties they face, referring to the power outage in the port in the absence of the required capabilities.

Khoury indicated that Lebanese Customs suffers from personnel and equipment shortage, especially modern equipment, noting there are also some problems with a number of vehicles.



World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

The World Bank has presented a $1 billion program for the reconstruction of Lebanon, the Lebanese prime minister's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The program would include $250 million as a loan, with the rest of the financing to come from international aid, it added.

The cost of reconstruction and recovery for Lebanon following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war is estimated at $11 billion, the World Bank said in a new report Friday.
The war killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands and caused widespread destruction in the nation.
The report by the World Bank’s Lebanon Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment covered damage and losses in ten sectors across the country from Oct. 8, 2023 until Dec. 20, 2024.
A US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November.