Lebanon bans scrap metal imports from Syria following TNA investigation

Lebanon’s cabinet banned the imports of scrap metal from Syria on December 12, following a cross border investigation by The New Arab (TNA), in collaboration with Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (SIRAJ), and El País and with support from JournalismFund Europe. 

Lebanon serves as a transhipment point for ferrous scrap destined for Turkey which has specialised in recycling steel; our investigation has shown how Turkish steel mills are willing to turn a blind eye to the source of the metal they process. After having been recycled, finished steel products are frequently exported to European markets. 

The investigation, published in October, revealed how the trade of scrap metal originating from conflict zones, among them Syria, is rife with human rights abuses, including young children and other vulnerable people being paid just cents per kilogram of scrap metal collected. Our reporting also indicated that this $46 billion industry permits sanctioned warlords to finance their forces, similarly to blood gold and diamonds.

For the now-toppled Assad regime, the scrap metal trade served as a major source of hard currency. The Armoured Fourth Division, headed by President Bashar al-Assad’s cousin Maher, was a major player in dismantling entire battle-ravaged neighbourhoods around Damascus and across Syria more broadly.

A central route for export was the Beirut–Damascus highway. At an abandoned Fourth Division checkpoint west of Damascus, TNA found documents that indicated that scrap trucks were expected to cross in large numbers, and that fees were planned for each convoy. The documents also shed light on the importance placed on exporting scrap through Lebanon as the elite military unit would export trucks from Syrian industrial centres to the border en route to Lebanese ports.

Other routes of entry into Lebanon from Syria included smuggling routes in the Beqaa Valley and in northern Lebanon, both areas having rich histories of cross-border smuggling. Various groups, among them Hezbollah, have extensive smuggling routes along the porous border, which make enforcement of the ban difficult for the cash-strapped security agencies and armed forces.

Nidaa al-Watan, a Lebanese daily, framed the decision in the context of the ongoing crackdown on Lebanon’s cash economy which the United States believe is an indirect lifeline for Hezbollah. Notably, the government’s decision to ban scrap imports from Syria was based on a request from Lebanon’s ministry of finance. 

TNA did not find any credible reports or evidence that the Shia group specifically smuggles scrap metal, although there is evidence to suggest that it has engaged in arms smuggling.