The Lebanese army said it has detained a notorious drug lord two years after he was sanctioned by the United States for suspected links to narcotics networks in Syria.
In a post on X on Thursday the military said security forces had arrested a citizen with the initials “NZ” following “a series of precise security surveillance and monitoring operations”. Three security sources told Reuters the detainee was Noah Zaitar.
The military said the man was “one of the most dangerous wanted individuals,” subject to numerous arrest warrants for forming gangs operating across Lebanon in drug and arms trafficking, manufacturing narcotic substances, robbery and theft by force of arms. It said he had previously opened fire on army personnel and facilities, fired on civilians’ homes, and kidnapped people for ransom. The investigation has begun under judicial supervision, the statement added.
Zaitar is accused of running a drug empire in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border, producing and exporting narcotics including the synthetic stimulant captagon. A military tribunal sentenced him to death in 2024 for killing a Lebanese soldier after years of evading arrest while based in his home village of Kneisseh and protected by armed supporters.
The US Department of State included Zaitar in 2023 sanctions targeting the regime of ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and individuals tied to a lucrative captagon trafficking network. The State Department described him as a “known arms dealer and drug smuggler” with close ties to the Syrian Arab Army’s Fourth Division, an elite unit once central to the captagon trade. It also said he was wanted for materially assisting, sponsoring or providing support to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
Zaitar’s arrest comes amid an intensified Lebanese crackdown on drug traffickers. In a separate X post the military said two soldiers, named as Bilal al-Baradi and Ali Haidar, were killed in clashes in Baalbek on Tuesday while pursuing fugitive narcotics suspects.
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
— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) November 18, 2025
Translation: The Army Command – Directorate of Orientation, mourns the First Assistant Martyr Bilal al-Baradi and Corporal Martyr Ali Haidar, who were martyred on 18/11/2025 as a result of clashes with wanted individuals during the execution by the Intelligence Directorate of a series of raids backed by an Army unit in the al-Sharawna area – Baalbek.
The military said another Lebanese citizen, referred to by the initials HAJ and named by the local outlet LBC International as Hassouneh Jaafar, was shot and killed after opening fire on security forces during that raid. He had been wanted in connection with the murder of four soldiers, as well as kidnapping, robbery, armed robbery and drug trafficking.
Authorities also arrested two other men, identified only as FM and GQ, in the Akkar governorate north of Baalbek near the Syrian border, on charges of promoting drugs and possessing weapons and military ammunition.
