The seizure of a Hezbollah explosives shipment in eastern Lebanon has reignited questions over the government's enforcement of a ban on the group's military and security activities, imposed after its rocket attacks on Israel triggered a new war on March 2. The explosives were intercepted in Dahr al-Baidar, and Hezbollah acknowledged they belonged to the Iran-backed party and were intended for use against Israel. The March 2 ban orders Hezbollah to surrender its weapons to the state and to confine its activities to politics within constitutional and legal frameworks. It also instructs military and security agencies to act immediately to enforce the ban, prevent rocket and drone launches from Lebanese territory and arrest violators. The most significant enforcement measures came in mid-to-late March, as Hezbollah fought Israel. Several armed members were arrested while heading to the battlefronts in southern Lebanon. A handful faced trial, but most were released on bail. 'Ink on paper' Hezbollah rejects the ban outright, arguing that it serves Israel's interests while it continues to occupy Lebanese territory. The group maintains that liberating the occupied land remains part of its duty. Its opponents say the government has not gone nearly far enough. They want tougher enforcement of the ban to ensure that decisions of war and peace rest exclusively with the Lebanese state. Ghada Ayoub, a lawmaker from the Lebanese Forces' Strong Republic parliamentary bloc, said the ban "remains ink on paper, with none of it implemented." That failure does not diminish the decision's political and legal weight, she told Asharq Al-Awsat. "It marked a fundamental shift in the Lebanese state's position, clearly declaring Hezbollah's military and security activities illegitimate and stripping them of any official cover," she explained. "It is no coincidence that Hezbollah keeps demanding its reversal. The group fully understands the decision's significance and its implications for its military and security project." Waiting on developments abroad Ayoub said that the Dahr al-Baidar explosives case underscored the importance of the ban, providing grounds to demand its referral to the Judicial Council because it involved prohibited military and security activities and posed a threat to the state and its citizens. But she blamed the lack of enforcement on a failure of political will. "The political leadership is still betting on regional and international developments, waiting to see how the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah unfolds instead of assuming its responsibilities," she remarked. "It is as though the authorities have chosen to let Hezbollah bear the consequences of refusing to surrender its weapons and abandon its military project, without confronting the group itself." The result is a state that makes sovereign decisions but leaves their enforcement hostage to developments abroad, she went on to say. She pointed to a cabinet decision on August 5, 2025, to impose state monopoly over weapons, saying its implementation remained incomplete. The government then banned Hezbollah's military and security activities on March 2 but failed to follow through with concrete action. "Now, with the Dahr al-Baidar case, this approach is no longer acceptable," Ayoub stressed. "Failing to refer the case to the Judicial Council raises serious questions about the government's commitment to its own decision." Ayoub urged the state to demonstrate that it was serious about enforcing its decisions rather than waiting for Israel or the United States to carry out responsibilities that belonged to Lebanon itself. "We cannot keep moving from one regional development to another while sovereign decisions remain on hold, using the need to preserve civil peace as a pretext for allowing violations of the law to continue," she demanded. "Fear of confrontation cannot become a permanent surrender of state sovereignty." 'Arrest every armed Hezbollah member' Retired Brigadier General George Nader echoed Ayoub's criticism, saying the government's decisions to establish state control over weapons and curb Hezbollah's military activities had yielded nothing. "The slogans have proved hollow and the decisions remain on paper. It is a major blow to a state that issues decisions it cannot enforce," Nader told Asharq Al-Awsat. "After the decision to bring weapons under state control, we went into Palestinian refugee camps and came back with truckloads of scrap metal," he said. "Even after identifying those responsible for the Dahr al-Baidar explosives, we arrested only the people transporting them, not those behind them." Nader said enforcing the cabinet's decisions would require arresting every armed Hezbollah member, not just those stopped at checkpoints. "If we genuinely want to implement the cabinet's decisions, every armed Hezbollah member is breaking the law and must be arrested," he added. "Arrests should not be limited to checkpoints. The authorities should go to where these members are and arrest them." Nader placed responsibility squarely on the government, saying the army operates under the political leadership's instructions. "What is needed today is a clear, explicit order to the Defense Ministry, directing it to instruct the army to arrest every armed Hezbollah member, wherever they may be," he urged.
