Youssef Diab

Lebanon has expanded efforts to reassert state control over its ports, airport and border crossings under President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. New scanners, personnel changes, investigations and tighter Syrian border controls have reportedly reduced smuggling of goods, cash, gold, Captagon and hashish, weakening Hezbollah’s logistical and financial networks. The ban on Iranian aircraft landing in Beirut has further restricted an alleged supply route, while the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime is described as a major strategic setback for Hezbollah and Iran.

Lebanese authorities arrested a man accused of working with Israel’s Mossad and providing intelligence that facilitated the assassination of senior Hezbollah commanders in 2024. The suspect, tracked and detained at Beirut’s airport before departing for Iraq, allegedly met Mossad-linked operatives in Türkiye and transferred sensitive information obtained through his connections to Hezbollah figures. Investigators say the intelligence contributed to targeted killings including those of Fuad Shukr and Ibrahim Aqil. The case, now under the Military Court, is considered one of the most serious recent espionage incidents amid broader arrests of suspected Israeli networks following the latest conflict.