Army Busts Drug Factory in Eastern Lebanon

A photo released by the Lebanese army shows the seized drugs and detained suspect.
A photo released by the Lebanese army shows the seized drugs and detained suspect.
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Army Busts Drug Factory in Eastern Lebanon

A photo released by the Lebanese army shows the seized drugs and detained suspect.
A photo released by the Lebanese army shows the seized drugs and detained suspect.

The Lebanese army announced on Monday that it has busted a drugs and captagon factory in eastern Lebanon.

Suspects involved in smuggling drugs to Syria were also arrested as part of an intense campaign that was launched last week to crack down on the drug trade.

The Lebanese government had vowed in recent weeks to crack down on the illicit activity after it had sparked a crisis between Beirut and Arab Gulf countries. Gulf countries have made numerous drug busts that were traced back to Lebanon.

In a statement on Monday, the army said a military unit and an intelligence bureau patrol raided the houses of several wanted suspects in the town of Brital in Baalbek in eastern Lebanon.

They arrested a Syrian national, busted a narcotics factory and seized quantities of cannabis and captagon pills, weapons and ammunition, and several vehicles and motorcycles.

In the Baalbek's Jroud Nahle region, an intelligence bureau patrol arrested a Syrian and two Lebanese nationals for forming a drug smuggling ring that operates abroad.

Last week, authorities carried out several security raids that led to the arrest of suspects and seizure of drug factories.

On Friday, the army arrested a Lebanese man in the Hermel region. He was wanted for several crimes, including theft, firing weapons, terrorizing the people, and drugs and arms smuggling.

That same day, the intelligence bureau referred to the concerned judiciary Lebanese and Syrian nationals on charges of forming a network that smuggles drugs abroad. The army said the network had smuggled narcotics to Germany, Slovakia, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia.



Egypt, Spain Reject US Plan to Displace Gazans

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (R) and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hold a signed agreements following their meeting at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, 19 February 2025. (EPA)
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (R) and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hold a signed agreements following their meeting at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, 19 February 2025. (EPA)
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Egypt, Spain Reject US Plan to Displace Gazans

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (R) and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hold a signed agreements following their meeting at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, 19 February 2025. (EPA)
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (R) and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hold a signed agreements following their meeting at Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, 19 February 2025. (EPA)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday rejected a controversial proposal by US President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians from the war-devastated Gaza Strip.  

The Arab League is scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on March 4 in response to Trump's plan to take over Gaza and permanently move its Palestinian inhabitants elsewhere, including to Egypt and Jordan, and then redevelop the coastal territory into the "Riviera of the Middle East".  

Speaking in Madrid ahead of the gathering, Sisi called for the "international community's support and adoption of a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip without displacing the Palestinian people -- I repeat, without displacing the Palestinian people -- from their land, which they cling to, and their homeland, which they do not agree to relinquish".

Sanchez, one of the staunchest defenders of the Palestinian cause within the European Union, agreed, saying "Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and is part of the future Palestinian state".

"Their expulsion would not only be immoral and contrary to international law and United Nations resolutions, but would also have a destabilizing effect," the Socialist premier added.  

The two leaders also signed a declaration upgrading Egypt-Spain relations to a "strategic partnership", as well as several memorandums of understanding in various fields including illegal migration and defense.  

Trump's plan sparked an outcry from Arab governments as well as from world leaders, and the United Nations warned against "ethnic cleansing" in the Palestinian territory.