Hezbollah has warned the Lebanese government of possible widespread unrest if the investigation into an explosives shipment seized in Dahr al-Baydar is referred to the Judicial Council, as the case fuels tensions between the group, state institutions and Western diplomatic missions, according to Erem News.

Senior Lebanese political sources told the outlet that Hezbollah had sent indirect messages warning of a security breakdown and a wave of public anger if the case was transferred to the Judicial Council.

The messages were reportedly conveyed through the Amal Movement and lawmakers allied with Hezbollah, under the guise of warnings against provoking sectarian strife. The sources said the aim was to prevent the investigation from expanding and potentially producing arrest warrants for senior military and organizational figures within the group.

According to the sources, investigators have established the involvement of prominent Hezbollah figures in overseeing the shipment’s transfer from Baalbek to the group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The case has also taken on a diplomatic dimension, with Hezbollah accused of turning what began as a domestic political and judicial dispute into a confrontation with Western embassies by alleging foreign interference in Lebanon’s affairs.

The dispute comes after the embassies of the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and Japan in Beirut called for the Lebanese State to retain exclusive authority over weapons and decisions of war and peace. They also urged an independent judicial investigation into the Dahr al-Baydar explosives case.

Hezbollah accused of pressuring judiciary

A senior Lebanese politician told Erem News that Hezbollah was pressuring the State by threatening to mobilize the streets over the explosives case while seeking to undermine public confidence in the judiciary.

The group was portraying the courts as an institution acting on foreign orders simply because they were carrying out their constitutional responsibility to investigate potential threats to public security, the politician said.

He added that Hezbollah was using the five embassies’ statement—which expressed support for the state’s efforts to bring weapons under its authority—as evidence of an alleged foreign effort to impose political tutelage on Lebanon. The aim, he said, was to persuade the group’s support base that the State was serving foreign interests and seeking to strip the “resistance” of its weapons.

A Hezbollah delegation led by MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan recently visited the office of State Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Ahmad Rami al-Hajj, prompting questions about whether the group was seeking to exert pressure on the judiciary.