23-04-2024 05:00 PM Jerusalem Timing

Arms Smuggling to Syria in Full Swing, Lebanon on Alert

Arms Smuggling to Syria in Full Swing, Lebanon on Alert

Amid the international calls for calm in the Arab country, still there are parties who want to take advantage of the unrest in Syria

Arms smuggled to Syria, confiscated by the Lebanese Army; April 23, 2012Amid the international calls for calm in the Arab country, still there are parties who want to take advantage of the unrest in Syria, despite the Lebanese political rhetoric that clearly stresses Lebanon should distance itself from what is going on in the neighboring country.

Early on Monday, the Lebanese army intelligence foiled an attempt by three men to smuggle weapons to Syria, the National News Agency reported.

Two Lebanese men and a Syrian national were detained after the army confiscated their pick-up truck in Beirut, which was loaded with weapons and anti-missile shields.

State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr charged the three men with trading arms and smuggling it to Syria, and referred them to the First Military Examining Magistrate.

A Lebanese private car smuggling weapons to Syria, confiscated Monday; April 23, 2012In the meantime, Customs Secretariat of Jdeidet Yabous Crossing, on the Syrian-Lebanese border, seized Monday a Lebanese tourist car with private plates loaded with large amount of weapons driven by a Lebanese citizen accompanied by a Syrian national while trying to enter the Syrian territories, Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported.

SANA reporter quoted a source at the Customs Secretariat as saying that the confiscated weapons included a sniper rifle, an RPG launcher, three machine guns, four pistols, 53 remote detonators, 11 RPG rounds, 8 mortar rounds, a machinegun tripod, 385 machinegun rounds, 6 boxes of PKC ammo, 311 pistols rounds, 357 AK-47 rounds and 6 assault rifle magazines.

The poorly-demarcated Syrian-Lebanese border has witnessed a number of violations since the violent revolt against the Syrian regime began in mid-March 2011.

The arms confiscations came less than two days of the UN Security Council resolution calling upon the cessation of violence from all parties in Syria.