83 tons of cannabis plants seized as Lebanon arrests 350 in Bekaa
Lebanon's Internal Security Forces, backed by the army, arrested more than 350 dealers and traffickers and seized 83 tons of cannabis plants in a week-long October 2008 operation in the Bekaa, the US embassy reported. Officers also seized 7.5 kg of processed hashish and 1,700 kg of cannabis seeds.
After political tensions eased, Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces (ISF) mounted
a large policing operation in October 2008, supported by the Lebanese Armed
Forces (LAF), in the cannabis-growing region of the Bekaa.[1]In a one-week
period that month, the ISF arrested over 350 drug dealers and traffickers and
seized83 tons of cannabis plants, 7.5 kilograms of processed hashish, and 1,700
kilograms of cannabis seeds.[1]
First eradication after years of pause
Between 2005 and 2007 there had been almost no eradication efforts in Lebanon,
because the army was overstretched by the 2006 war with Israel and the 2007 battle
against militants in a northern Palestinian camp and could not provide security
for crop destruction.[1]Internal sectarian conflicts also precluded a decision
approving eradication in early 2008.[1]The embassy noted the ISF faced the
possibility of armed resistance by local farmers during enforcement operations.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Lebanese forces eradicated 255 dunams of cannabis across Baalbek-Hermel from January to 10 November 2026, ending with an operation in Jerd Marjhine. The crop remains unlawful because parliament's 2020 medical-cannabis law still lacks implementing decrees.
Lebanon's army said on 1 November 2026 that one of its units had destroyed a marijuana crop covering about 9,700 square meters in the Zarzir and Ainata areas of Baalbek. The statement gave no plant count or weight, named no suspects and reported no arrests.
The Lebanese Army said it destroyed about 180 dunums of cannabis and seized about 60 tonnes of the crop at Jabab al-Hamr near Hermel on 26 October 2026. A next-day newsletter roundup confirmed the figures and noted a related arrest in Brital.
An army unit destroyed about 60 dunums of cultivated kif cannabis at al-Kanisa, Baalbek, on 10 October 2026. Seventeen Syrian workers without legal papers were detained with harvest equipment in their possession, and the investigation runs under the competent judiciary.
