Preliminary interrogations of five Hezbollah members arrested by security forces in the mountainous areas of Batroun and Bcharre are pointing to organized movements that involved surveying areas in northern Lebanon and preparing to reorganize local groups, Lebanese security sources told Erem News.

Security agencies are continuing to establish the nature of these groups and the extent of their links to Hezbollah.

The sources said information uncovered during the investigation indicates that the five detainees were not operating independently but were part of a network involving external monitoring and logistical support. A residential apartment in the town of Bnahran, in the Koura district, was allegedly used for logistical purposes, while documents seized from the suspects revealed two operational plans concerning Tripoli and Koura.

Investigators have yet to determine whether the groups mentioned in the documents are existing cells whose activities were being revived and responsibilities redistributed, or groups Hezbollah was planning to establish in the coming period.

Logistical apartment and external surveillance

According to the security sources, one of the most significant developments to emerge from the investigation concerns the detainees leaving their mobile phones inside an apartment in Bnahran before heading to the mountainous area where they were arrested.

The sources added that other individuals suspected of being linked to the group rushed to the apartment after news of the arrests broke, removing the phones and some documents before security forces arrived.

The Information Branch is working to identify these individuals, as well as others believed to have remotely monitored the five men's movements, in an effort to determine the nature of the mission they were carrying out and the party overseeing it, the sources said.

They noted that the presence of a logistical apartment and individuals tasked with monitoring the group's movements and retrieving its belongings points to organized activity extending beyond the five detainees. However, this alone is insufficient to establish that active armed cells were operating in the area.

Plans for Tripoli and Koura

The sources told Erem News that investigators managed to piece together fragments of documents the detainees had attempted to tear up inside their vehicle. The papers contained two operational plans for Tripoli and Koura, along with names and tasks assigned to groups operating under specific designations, including the "Rashkida Group" and the "Koura Group."

According to the sources, the documents also contained references to weapons, including the term "snipers," as well as requests for support, photographs and equipment. These details reinforced suspicions that the activities involved field preparations extending beyond geographical reconnaissance.

Security agencies are continuing to cross-check the names and locations mentioned in the papers against the information available to them to determine whether they refer to existing local groups or plans to establish new units and groups, the sources said.

The investigation is also focusing on the nature of the relationship between the arrested men and the individuals named in the documents, including whether the five had been tasked with coordinating the activities of other groups or preparing to establish them.

Investigations have also extended to possible links between the detainees and the Charitable Association for the Revitalization of the Five Villages, which is headquartered in Bnahran.

The sources said security agencies are examining the nature of the detainees' ties to the association and whether any of its facilities or civilian connections were used to facilitate their movements.

Searches and inquiries are also continuing in the Koura and Batroun districts for other individuals who may have been connected to the group's activities or to the apartment from which the phones were removed.

Hezbollah seeks release of detainees, judiciary refuses

Hezbollah became directly involved in the case after MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan acknowledged that the five detainees were members of the group and called for their release. The Public Prosecution, however, rejected the request and insisted that judicial procedures continue.

Hezbollah has also described the detainees as being in the same category as its members held captive by Israel, adding a political dimension to a case that remains under criminal investigation.

According to judicial sources, the investigation is proceeding on the basis of the detainees' individual conduct and the evidence seized from them, rather than their affiliation with Hezbollah alone.

The case is now awaiting the outcome of a confrontation session scheduled for Friday, as authorities continue searching for the individuals who removed the phones and verifying the nature of the groups and the names listed in the seized documents.

Fears of a parallel security structure

Against this backdrop, military and strategic affairs researcher Mohammad Youssef al-Nour said the case involving the five detainees raises suspicions that Hezbollah may be seeking to expand its security infrastructure beyond its traditional strongholds by reorganizing local groups or establishing new networks to gather intelligence and operate in areas where it has no publicly declared military presence.

Al-Nour said the existence of a logistical apartment, external monitoring and documents detailing the distribution of tasks and requests for weapons do not readily fit the description of an incidental civilian movement. Rather, they warrant an investigation into the possibility of organized security activity.

He warned that if such a plan is confirmed, it would amount to an attempt to build a parallel security structure outside state institutions in northern Lebanon, threatening local stability and increasing the risk of internal tensions, particularly if the groups mentioned in the documents are found to have links to armed activities.

Al-Nour concluded that Hezbollah's demand for the detainees' release and its description of them as captives raise concerns that the group may seek to turn a criminal case into a political confrontation with the judiciary, at a time when evidence should determine individual responsibility regardless of political affiliation.