IDF details yearslong efforts against Hezbollah arms smuggling outfit in Syria
Military confirms it has been attacking Iran-backed Lebanese terror group’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with weapons delivery
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
In what has been an open secret for years, the Israeli military confirmed Monday it has been operating against Hezbollah’s weapons smuggling unit in Syria to prevent Iranian arms from reaching the terror group in Lebanon.
A series of strikes during the ongoing war with the Iran-backed terror group have targeted Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with delivering weapons from Iran and its proxies to Lebanon.
One such strike hit an area at the Syria-Lebanon border on Monday night.
According to the Israeli military, Unit 4400 was established in 2000 and built numerous “strategic routes” along the Syria-Lebanon border with Iranian support.
Thousands of trucks and hundreds of planes carrying missiles and other components for Hezbollah have traveled from Iran to Syria, and later to Lebanon, in recent years, the IDF said.
The strikes against Unit 4400 during the war have included the assassinations of the head of the unit, Muhammad Ja’far Qassir, in Beirut in early October, and his replacement, Ali Hassan Gharib, in Damascus, several weeks later, alongside other top commanders.
⭕️ ???????????????????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????: IDF STRIKES ON IRANIAN SMUGGLING ROUTES
For decades, Iran has been supplying Hezbollah with weapons through covert smuggling routes via Syria, with the cooperation of Syrian authorities.
These routes, managed by Hezbollah’s Unit… pic.twitter.com/qUogTyxrU2
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 25, 2024
The IDF said that it has been striking Hezbollah’s smuggling routes between Syria and Lebanon “not only in the last few months, but in a years-long effort.”
Reports of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah weapons shipments began to emerge in early 2013, with Israel officially keeping mum to avoid blowback. It has increasingly opened up in recent years about the sorties, which have complemented a long-standing aerial campaign aimed at keeping Iran from gaining a foothold near Syria’s border with Israel.
The IDF says its series of strikes against Unit 4400 have “damaged the ability of the Hezbollah terror organization to strengthen its stockpile of weapons and thus to fire at the citizens of the State of Israel.”
One strike in early October destroyed a 3.5-kilometer-long tunnel that crossed between Lebanon and Syria, which the IDF said was used by Hezbollah to smuggle and store Iranian weapons.
Construction work on the major tunnel began in 2009 and was completed a decade later, according to the IDF.
On Monday evening the IDF confirmed launching airstrikes on the Syria-Lebanon border, targeting what it says were routes used by Hezbollah to smuggle Iranian weapons.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said the strikes damaged several bridges in the Al-Qusayr area and wounded two people.
Israel has carried out several airstrikes in the Al-Qusayr area in recent months, targeting border crossings and other weapon smuggling routes used by Hezbollah to bring arms into Lebanon.
Israeli jets also bombed Unit 4400 command centers amid other strikes on Hezbollah in Beirut on Monday.
Israel’s current conflict with Hezbollah began the day after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, when the Palestinian terror group invaded southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 hostages to Gaza. Of those, 97 remain in captivity.
The following day, Hezbollah began its attacks on the north, forcing tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel to abandon their homes for fear the Shiite terror group would launch a similar invasion.
Israel stepped up its offensive on Hezbollah in Lebanon in late September, launching extensive strikes and operations that took out most of the group’s leadership, including its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel then launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon with the aim of clearing Hezbollah strongholds in the area and making it safe for evacuated residents of northern Israel to return to their homes.
