The Lebanese Army announced on 5 October that 28,275 kilograms of ammonium nitrate were seized at a gas station in Arsal in Baalbek, near the border with Syria, during a raid by security forces.

Four people, including a Lebanese national and three Syrians, were arrested following the raid.

The seized bags contained a nitrogen content of 26 percent, below the 33.5 percent that requires the approval of the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Defense, and the Council of Ministers.

Concentrations of higher than 33.5 percent are considered explosives.

In 2014, Arsal was a stronghold of Al-Nusrah Front and ISIS forces, who engaged in a deadly battle with the Lebanese Army.

Last month, Lebanese security forces seized more than 20 tons of ammonium nitrate from a warehouse in the Bekaa Valley belonging to Maroun and Ibrahim Sakr, who allegedly planned to use the highly explosive material to frame Hezbollah for the Beirut Port explosion.

Ibrahim Sakr is an official in the US-allied Lebanese Forces political party.