The Lebanese Army confirmed on August 6 the death of three of the country’s most dangerous and notorious drug traffickers in a rare and high-profile armed clash in the Bekaa Valley’s troubled city of Baalbek. The operation, carried out in the notorious Sharawneh neighborhood, is being hailed by Lebanese media as a major milestone in the country’s long-running war on drugs – and a clear signal that the era of impunity for powerful armed criminals may be coming to an end.

The clash unfolded in the Sharawneh neighborhood of Baalbek, an area notorious for harboring arms and narcotics traffickers. According to the Lebanese Army Command, troops were pursuing a vehicle carrying wanted members of the influential Zeaiter family when the suspects opened fire. The ensuing gunfight left all three fugitives dead: Ali Monzer Zeaiter, Abbas Ali Saadoun Zeaiter, and Fayyad Salem Zeaiter.

These men were not petty criminals. They had been wanted for years on a laundry list of charges, including the killing of soldiers, kidnapping, armed assaults on army posts, and armed robbery. The Directorate of Orientation noted that the Zeaiters’ drug operations spanned multiple Lebanese regions, fueling crime and pulling thousands-particularly youth-into a criminal underworld that has undermined Lebanon’s social fabric.

Previous attempts to capture the trio had ended in failure, often with injuries to security forces. Their power was reinforced by both their tribal connections and, in some cases, alleged political protection. Baalbek, a stronghold for some of........

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