📰 7 sources 17 articles · 16 Oct 2026, 14:33 → yesterday

Lebanon: Unfit medicines seized in warehouses and a security patrol besieged in Beirut

The case began with an assignment by Lebanon's Prosecutor General of Cassation to open an investigation into a list of suspicious medicines, seize them and prevent their circulation, following a letter from the Health Minister. During the raids on medicine warehouses, armed men gathered and tried to besiege a security patrol and prevent it from sealing the warehouses with red wax, before the warehouses were sealed; Hezbollah said the raid took place without "the agreed mechanism", while the Ministry of Health announced it would re-study biosimilar medicine files.

📍 Where things stand: The medicines were seized and the warehouse was sealed with red wax, and the Ministry of Health announced its intention to re-study and evaluate the files of all biosimilar medicines according to updated World Health Organization criteria.

⏱️ Timeline

16 Oct 2026, 14:33 Lebanon's Prosecutor General of Cassation Ahmed Rami al-Hajj called for the seizure of suspicious medicines and preventing their circulation, and assigned the head of the Central Criminal Investigations Bureau to open an investigation into the letter he received from the Health Minister and the list of medicines he had requested from the Director General of the Ministry of Health in order to look into them, and to inspect the warehouses of the companies and agents importing those medicines with a view to seizing them, preventing their circulation and establishing the full identity of the companies' owners, with the inspection and seizure to take place in the presence of an inspector from the Pharmacy Department.
16 Oct 2026, 17:20 The competent authorities carried out raids on warehouses of Biosimilars medicines that do not conform to the required health specifications in Lebanon.
16 Oct 2026, 17:39 While a patrol of the Central Criminal Investigations Bureau — acting on a delegation from Prosecutor General Ahmed Rami al-Hajj and an assignment from Health Minister Rakan Nasr al-Din — was seizing and confiscating corrupt medicines in warehouses belonging to a pharmaceutical company, dozens of armed young men described as affiliated with Hezbollah gathered and tried to besiege the patrol, asked the colonel heading it to withdraw and prevented him from sealing the warehouses with red wax. The patrol consisted of 15 members, and the colonel contacted Prosecutor General Ahmed Rami al-Hajj.
16 Oct 2026, 18:35 The Security Forces announced that young men tried to prevent a raid on a warehouse of unfit medicines in the Galerie Sam'an area, but the force managed to seize the medicines and sealed the warehouse with red wax.
16 Oct 2026, 20:03 Hezbollah stated that the raid was carried out without "the agreed mechanism".
16 Oct 2026, 20:25 Al-Jadeed published photos documenting the sealing of the medicine warehouse in the Galerie Sam'an area with red wax.
16 Oct 2026, 21:04 A report said Hezbollah intervened to protect the Levant Pulse warehouses and raised the question of the relation of Naim Qassem's son to the matter, a year after the UstekiRel medicine was contracted for about 749 thousand dollars.
16 Oct 2026, 23:58 The Ministry of Public Health explained that the Public Prosecution's seizure of medicines on the Lebanese market came on the basis of a referral and a letter from Health Minister Rakan Nasser al-Din following an internal investigation by the ministry, which showed that the medicines seized by the security forces had previously been struck off by ministerial decision for not meeting the required conditions for use and circulation on the Lebanese market. The minister announced that he was about to issue a decision to re-study and evaluate biosimilar medicines, and the ministry announced its intention to update and re-study the files of all biosimilar medicines on the Lebanese market according to updated World Health Organization criteria; a judicial task ended with the seizure of unfit medicines in a warehouse in the Galerie Sam'an area in Beirut.

Timeline written by AI from the sources below; updated as new reports arrive.

⚠️ Sources disagree

Location of the seizure operation and the besieging of the patrol

Al-Jenah area according to annahar.com
Glory Sam'an area according to MTV Lebanon
Galerie Sam'an area according to lebanon debate

What was sealed with red wax

the apartment was sealed according to lebanon debate
the warehouses were sealed with red wax according to MTV Lebanon

Figures as each outlet reported them at the time. We do not judge which is correct; numbers often change as events develop.

How the sources covered it

Some coverage focused on the details of the Prosecutor General's decision and the besieging of the security patrol and the naming of Hezbollah, while other coverage carried law-related headlines alongside the Security Forces' account and Hezbollah's position, and a third group focused on the Health Ministry's clarifications and the decision to re-study biosimilar medicines.

MTV Lebanon Led with the details of the assignment by Prosecutor General Ahmed Rami al-Hajj and the besieging of a 15-member patrol while naming Hezbollah, and later highlighted the Levant Pulse warehouses, the UstekiRel medicine contract of about 749 thousand dollars and the question of the relation of Naim Qassem's son.
annahar.com Led with the gathering of armed men described as affiliated with Hezbollah and their attempt to besiege the patrol during the seizure of corrupt medicines, and later highlighted the Health Ministry's intention to re-study the files of all biosimilar medicines according to World Health Organization criteria.
lebanon debate Carried headlines such as "the law wins over Hezbollah", relayed the Security Forces' account that young men tried to prevent the raid and that the warehouse was sealed with red wax, and included Hezbollah's clarification that the raid took place without "the agreed mechanism".
tayyar.org Focused on the Ministry of Public Health's clarification that the seizure came on the basis of a referral and letter from Health Minister Rakan Nasser al-Din after an internal investigation, and on his announcement of a decision to re-study and evaluate biosimilar medicines.
aljadeed Limited itself to publishing photos documenting the sealing of the medicine warehouse in the Galerie Sam'an area with red wax, without details on the party that carried out the sealing or the reasons.
LBCI Lebanon Stuck to the Prosecutor General of Cassation's call to seize suspicious medicines and prevent their circulation, without the raid details, the besieging of the patrol or the Health Ministry's position.