The truck was stopped as it drove into Beirut from the Bekaa Valley to the east, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said. "We will await the investigation and announce everything to the Lebanese," he told reporters.

An-Nahar reported on Thursday that Hezbollah claimed that the weapons belonged to them, and asked to have them back.

Defense Minister Elias Murr announced that security forces intercepted Thursday in Hazmieh, east of Beirut, a truck loaded with weapons.

Murr told a cabinet meeting the truck was on its way from the Bekaa valley. He did not disclose its final destination.

A United Nations envoy and anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders have accused Syria of smuggling weapons to its allies in Lebanon in recent months.

A ranking security source said a customs patrol "tailed the truck from Bekaa to Hazmieh, where it intercepted it at Sayyad traffic circle."

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said army units and police patrols intervened to support the customs patrol and the "whole case is now under the jurisdiction of the military investigator."

He said the initial assumption of the customs patrol was that the truck is involved in smuggling "fuel that had been brought into the Bekaa illegally from the Syrian market."

"Upon intercepting the truck, customs agents searched through packs of hay it was carrying and found a large quantity of automatic rifles, clips and ammunition," the source added without further elaboration.

He stressed, however, that "the final destination of the truck remains unknown, pending completion of the investigation with its driver."

The government is facing a political challenge from opponents including Hezbollah. The political standoff spilled over into armed clashes between supporters of the rival camps last month and nine people were killed. It was Lebanon's worst civil unrest since its 1975-1990 civil war and raised fears of a new conflict.

Photo caption: Lebanese army and police stand near a six-wheel truck, seized in the Hazmiyeh suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.

Sources: Naharnet, Reuters, Ya Libnan