Lebanon arrests alleged drug kingpin sanctioned by US State Department

Two years after the country’s most notorious drug lord was found by the Lebanese army due to his alleged involvement with narcotics rings in Syria, he was given a two-year suspension by the US.

The Lebanese army confirmed to the Reuters news agency that a citizen with the initials “NZ” had been detained in a post on X on Thursday, and three security sources confirmed to the news agency that Noah Zaitar was the subject of the incident.

Security forces in Baalbek, in eastern Baalbek-Hermel governorate, detained Zaitar following a “series of precise security surveillance and monitoring operations,” according to the Lebanese military.

According to the military, “the detainee is one of the most dangerous wanted individuals, pursuant to a large number of arrest warrants,” for crimes involving the establishment of gangs in various Lebanese regions engaged in drug and arms trafficking, narcotics manufacturing, and robbery and theft by force of weapons.

He had previously opened fire on military installations, citizens’ homes, and kidnapped people for cash as a result. Under the supervision of the competent judiciary, the investigation has already begun with the detainee,” it continued.

In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley region close to the Syrian border, Zaitar allegedly ran a drug empire that produced and exported drugs, including the synthetic stimulant captagon.

Zaitar was given a life sentence in 2024 for killing a Lebanese soldier after avoiding arrest for years while residing in his hometown of Kneisseh&nbsp, surrounded by armed supporters.

He was also named in US Department of State sanctions against Bashar al-Assad’s ousted regime and those connected to his lucrative captagon trafficking network in 2023.

Zaitar, according to the State Department, had close ties to the Fourth Division of the Syrian Arab Army, an elite unit that was once a key player in the captagon trade, and was a “known arms dealer and drug smuggler.”

Zaitar is also wanted for “materially supporting, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services” to Hezbollah, according to the statement.

Zaitar’s arrest comes as part of a country-wide crackdown on drug traffickers, which is currently being carried out by Lebanon’s authorities.

The Lebanese military claimed that two soldiers were killed on Tuesday in clashes in Baalbek as they pursued fugitive drug traffickers in a separate post on X on Wednesday.

تنعى قيادة الجيش ـــ مديرية التوجيه، المعاون الأول الشهيد بلال البرادعي والعريف الشهيد علي حيدر اللذين استشهدا بتاریخ ١٨ /١١ /٢٠٢٥ نتيجة اشتباكات مع مطلوبين أثناء تنفيذ مديرية المخابرات سلسلة عمليات دهم بمؤازرة وحدة من الجيش في منطقة الشراونة – بعلبك.
وفي ما يلي نبذة عن حياة كل… pic. twitter.com/aIw9IjiuYi

The first assistant Martyr Bilal al-Baradi and Corporal Martyr Ali Haidar were killed on April 11, 1920 when an Army unit carried out a series of raids supported by an Army unit in the al-Sharawna area – Baalbek. &nbsp,

Another Lebanese citizen, identified by the local news outlet Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International as Hassouneh Jaafar, was shot and killed after opening fire on Lebanese security forces during that raid, according to the military.

The fugitive was wanted in connection with drug trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping, and the murder of four soldiers.