Marco Rubio spoke with Lebanon's Aoun on confiscated Hezbollah explosives - The Jerusalem Post

Beirut, Lebanon – On October 5, a minivan was stopped at a checkpoint in Dahr el-Baydar between the Bekaa Valley and Mount Lebanon region. Lebanese security forces discovered the car was carrying hundreds of kilos of explosive materials, including TNT and C-4, according to Lebanese officials. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Rubio presses Lebanon on confiscation of weapons from Hezbollahlist 2 of 3Qatar announces ‘massive’ solar plant project in Lebanonlist 3 of 3‘Trying to dominate’: In Cyprus, some fear Israel’s growing influenceend of listOn Thursday, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah released a statement saying that the explosives belonged to Hezbollah which had demanded their return, along with the release of the two people detained in the vehicle. “From the moment the vehicle was detained, the relevant bodies within [Hezbollah] immediately contacted the security and judicial agencies and informed them that the vehicle and its cargo belonged to the resistance,” Fadlallah said in his statement.

Lebanon’s president reaffirms the commitment to bring all arms under state control. Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has discussed the confiscation of explosives intended for use against Israel during a telephone call with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Lebanese Presidential Palace has announced. Aoun received the call on Thursday, assuring Rubio that Lebanese security forces are fully carrying out their duties in confiscating illicit arms across the country. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3How Israel’s ‘Yellow Line’ is reshaping southern Lebanonlist 2 of 3Israeli quadcopter drone drops bomb in Lebanonlist 3 of 3Suspected Israeli online operations cause alarm in Iran and Lebanonend of listLast week, an explosive-laden truck carrying 780kg (1,720lb) of explosives was intercepted on a highway between Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley. On Thursday, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah acknowledged the group’s connection to the shipment, stating that the materials were intended for operations against Israel.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said the US is closely monitoring the case of a Russian laboratory worker who died last week after a reported accident at a plague research institute in Siberia. “We’re watching and monitoring it closely,” Rubio said on Monday before leaving for a trip to Europe. “I ⁠don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause just to keep an ⁠eye on it.”Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee at the anti-plague institute in the city of Irkutsk, became ill at work. She died two days later on the night of 2 October at a regional hospital in the nearby town of Shelekhov. It remains unclear how she became unwell. Unconfirmed reports in Russian media have suggested Shipilova may have been infected after a mishap at the laboratory. Officials have not publicly confirmed that account. Local media have reported that the institute has subsequently been locked down, with staff forced to sleep on the floor and on chairs. “They’ve been isolating everybody since Friday – more than 60 people,” one relative, Roman, told the news portal Siberia. Realities.