Justice Minister Adel Nassar warned that no one would be allowed to delay an investigation into the explosives seized in Dahr al-Baydar while they were being transported to Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, saying the case raised serious security concerns amid escalating regional tensions.

In an interview with MTV, Nassar said many Lebanese feared that regional developments could prompt Hezbollah to give Israel a pretext to drag Lebanon into another devastating war.

He also stressed the danger posed by the explosives themselves, saying experts had determined that the material had been transported from the Bekaa Valley to the Dahiyeh.

“The amount of explosives involved could destroy an entire neighborhood,” Nassar said, warning that storing such material in a densely populated area was a catastrophic crime regardless of its intended use.

The situation would be even more serious, he added, if investigators determined that the explosives were intended for security operations inside Lebanon or to draw the country into further wars in support of other actors.

Nassar said the case also raised broader questions about Hezbollah’s entire military apparatus.

During a Cabinet meeting held earlier in the day, the justice minister said he had proposed referring the case to the Judicial Council, a court that handles major crimes affecting state security and other serious offenses.

“I’ll raise the issue again at the Cabinet, but that won’t delay or interfere with the investigation already underway,” he said.

Nassar also warned that Lebanon could no longer afford further military escalation, saying residents of southern Lebanon and the Dahiyeh had reached the limit of what they could endure.

“They can no longer bear another military operation or anything that gives Israel a pretext to attack,” he said.

While stressing that Israel could not be absolved of responsibility for its attacks, Nassar argued that bringing all weapons under state control was essential to protecting Lebanon’s interests.

“No one is letting Israel off the hook for its attacks,” he said. “But weapons must be exclusively in the hands of the Lebanese state. That is the only way the state can negotiate to recover its territory.”

As long as Hezbollah insists on keeping its weapons, Nassar added, it undermines the government’s ability to negotiate an Israeli withdrawal and guarantee the security of communities in southern Lebanon and the Dahiyeh.

“As long as a party says it intends to keep its weapons, it weakens the State’s negotiating position on recovering its land and ensuring the security of people in the south and the Dahiyeh,” he said.