Drug Dealing and Growing in the Beqaa Valley

Famous for its hashish and other drug production, the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon is one of the lynch pins to securing that fragile country.  As drug barons and clans expand their already intricate and deep connections, the Lebanese army and government is facing an uphill battle. From The National:

The military intelligence officer was sitting in his office in northern Lebanon when the call came from his colleagues in Beqaa Valley.

They were asking for his help in negotiating a truce between the Lebanese army and a loose alliance of families in Beqaa who dominate Lebanon’s multibillion dollar hashish trade after a crackdown on drug trafficking and carjacking had turned violent, with casualties on both sides.

But the officer had no intention of getting involved.

“I know these families, now that they have had martyrs, there is no talking to them,” he growled down the phone.

“There is only the army. Send the army to crush them, it’s the only language they understand.”

After exchanging a few more tart words and hanging up the phone, the officer sighed.

“I’m not stupid enough to get involved with these people. They act like this is Iraq, not Lebanon.”

The past year has been unusually stable for Lebanon. Although last month’s elections resulted in bitter political rivalry, the expected sectarian and political violence did not materialise.

However, there have been a series of arrests and killings of drug traffickers and criminals linked to the large tribes of upper Beqaa. The low-intensity confrontation has claimed almost 20 lives, seen scores arrested and beaten by authorities and sparked an international incident after Syria captured several fugitives who fled after ambushing an army patrol.

While force might eventually be needed, there are other approaches before a full blown conflagration breaks out.

The solution, according to one top police official in charge of operations in the Beqaa, can only be found through development and compromise. “We need to offer these fugitives some sort of amnesty where they serve some years in prison in exchange for closing their files,” said a police official, who is not authorised to talk to the media.

“If we tell these guys that they face life or even more than 10 years in prison, they’re just going to keep shooting grenades at us if we try to arrest them. But tell them they have to serve a few years in a jail in Baalbak, and in exchange they can have their lives back and maybe we can close the file on these crimes.

“But even then, the government has to help develop the economy out here or there will be nothing for anyone to do but grow drugs.”

A combination of engagement, strategic bargaining and grand compromise between the government and the barons and clans is needed.  Right now, a new Lebanese government is being formed with Saad Hariri as prime minister.  From the FT:

He faces tough negotiations. He is expected to form a government in which all groups participate as a result of Lebanon’s complex sectarian system. Hammering out a deal with the opposition, which includes the armed Shia Hizbollah movement, will make it difficult to introduce overdue institutional and economic reforms.

Aside from dealing with a multitiude of issues related to Hezbollah, Israel,  Syria, and the Lebanese economy, Saad Hariri cannot afford to overlook and not negotiate with the barons and clans of the Beqaa Valley.  However, all too often these issues are interrelated and intersect at vital points.