Bulldozers of the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces crushed large areas of cannabis, from the Hermel highlands and Jabab al-Hamr to open plains in villages west of Baalbek including Shmstar, Tariya, Buday, Flaoui, Deir al-Ahmar and Yamoune.[1] A security source told Annahar that planted areas eradicated from the start of 2026 to 10 November 2026 totalled 255 dunams, about 25.5 hectares, in Baalbek-Hermel governorate.[1][2] The source said the latest eradication operation took place on Tuesday morning in Jerd Marjhine in Hermel.[1]
The agencies were applying the current drugs law, under which cannabis remains prohibited unless it falls within an operative regulatory framework.[1] Parliament’s Law 178 of 2020 permitting medical and industrial cannabis cultivation, and the formation of its regulator, do not make cultivation lawful while the implementing decrees have not been issued.[1] Farmers said they had been told the planting was for Lebanese University research or partnerships with Canadian, Jordanian or other foreign companies of unknown nationality.[1] Those claims proved illusory, and families borrowed heavily to plant in the belief the crop had become legal, only for official bulldozers to destroy a crop that remained unlawful.[1]
