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The Lebanese military said on February 8 that it had ordered troops deployed along the border with Syria to retaliate against fire from the Syrian side.
Clashes broke out along the border between the Lebanese governorate of Baalbek-Hermel and the Syrian governorate of Homs two days earlier when Syrian government forces -mainly made of fighters from the now dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham- launched an operation to close smuggling routes allegedly run by the Shiite clans of Zoaiter and Jaafar, which are linked to Hezbollah.
The two clans are said to be involved in the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah, as well as in the trafficking of drugs and other goods across the Lebanese-Syrian border.
In the first 48 hours of the confrontation, Syrian government forces imposed control of much of the border, including the key towns of Hawik and al-Qasr. Three Lebanese and Syrian were killed. However, clashes continued on the third day, mainly close to the crossing of Matraba.
Syrian government forces used heavy weapons, including multiple rocket launchers, main battle tanks and anti-tank guided missiles. Multiple suicide drones launched from Syria were also shot down by Lebanese fighters, who showed fierce resistance.
In a statement, the Lebanese military said that it had acted on directives from Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, ordering military units along the northern and eastern borders to respond to sources of fire coming from Syrian territory and targeting Lebanese areas.
The statement added that units had begun responding with “appropriate weapons” following recent clashes that saw several Lebanese areas shelled and fired upon.
On February 7, Aoun called interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and discussed “controlling the situation on the Lebanese-Syrian border and preventing the targeting of civilians.”
Municipalities in the Hermel district had issued a statement calling on the Lebanese state to intervene to protect civilians following repeated attacks on Lebanese villages from Syria. They said the Lebanese military must take full responsibility amid the ongoing tension and work to put an end to these hostile acts.
Following the army’s statement, several Lebanese strikes reportedly hit Syrian government forces. Lebanese drones were also observed over the border.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported an expanded military deployment to new positions on the outskirts of Hermel, near the Syrian border. It said an army observation tower was reportedly hit by an artillery shell from Syria, causing only material damage.
The state-run news agency also reported that the Lebanese Red Cross had transported eight people to hospitals in Hermel after they were injured in shelling in the northern border region. It said shelling from Syria struck the towns of Zakiyah, Ard al-Sabea, Sahlat al-Maa, and Qanafez, injuring civilians.
While the border clashes remain limited in scale, the situation could get out of hand at any moment. So far, Hezbollah have stayed out of the confrontation, likely to focus on the implementation of the ceasefire agreement with Israel which should end by February 18. The group could intervene later, if the issue of the border was not resolved.
Maintaining control over this part of the border with Syria is critical for Hezbollah, which lost all of its supply routes from Syria with the fall of the Assad regime last December.
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hts is a good israeli dog.
all this american equipment, in the hands of the american terrorists child murderers, rapists, tortures……nothing strange there then! the americans know, hezbollah must be taken out prior to the americans “final solution” on the concentration camps in gaza and the west bank!
now do you see where musks nazi salutes came from!
let me tell americans right now, you will be burying your sons and daughters very shortly by the dozen! i hope as fertiliser you think it worth it!
by the thousands.
greater israel, the zionist dream! and all that regional oil and gas for bankers to control. america enjoy your superbowl.
the lebanese army is a sick joke. it is directly controlled by the jewsa. recently a lebanese soldier shot at a zio drone that was causing a nuisance over lebanon. so as a punishment the jewsa cut off the supply of rifle ammunition to the joke lebanese army. so it doesn’t have any bullets. the “lebanese air force” hasn’t had any planes since 1976. they want lebanon to be completely defenceless so that shlomo can steal whatever he wants …t
to particularly all of southern lebanon and its water and cover it with filthy illegal settlements like the west bank. hezbollah’s existence prevents this, which is why shlomo and his jewsa goy stooges want to destroy it. hezbollah is the only thing protecting lebanon from the genocidal zionist terror regime. lebanon is ruled over by the 5,000 strong us “embassy” in beirut.
aye and let us not forget who owns the lebanese army! israel requires intelligence on the border region, how else better to get it, send in israelis with the lebanese army under the pretence of syrian, (american) terrorists!
yeah, it is pretty obvious who’s their master. never did anything about zio shit, but attacks muslims on the border. zios think they’ll get away with this shit again like many, many times in the past.
but one thing us for sure, and it applies to chosen ones:one can do whatever he wants, but not as long as he wants.
i dont see anyone standing up to them after the disastrous end of the resistance axis.
if they can’t fight against the euro-american apartheid settler colony “israel”, at least fight against their terrorist zionist puppets!
false flags to incite fighting between nations? israeli mossad wouldn’t try that too? would they? the fog of war is clear.
lebanon need to blow up the new embassy the americ*nts presently are building in lebanon or they de facto accept to be occupied by the c*nts and the jews!
a couple of truck bombs should resolve the problem.