Israel said to strike known Hezbollah smuggling area along Syria-Lebanon border
Source close to Lebanese terror group tells AFP that 3 Israeli strikes targeted convoy of tanker trucks, injuring a Syrian driver
A source close to Lebanese terror group Hezbollah said late Friday that Israel carried out strikes on a convoy of trucks entering Lebanon from Syria.
“Three Israeli strikes targeted a convoy of tanker trucks on the Syrian-Lebanese border in the Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali area, injuring one Syrian driver,” the source told AFP.
It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes in the border area, the source added.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has a strong presence on both sides of the eastern stretch of the Lebanese-Syria border, where it supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and has been known to use the area to smuggle Iranian weapons into Lebanon.
Hours before the attack in Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali, media outlets in Lebanon reported an Israeli strike several miles away in the Lebanese village of Qasr.
Separate reports later said the strike targeted the Dabaa Airport in Syria.
غارة على منطقة #حوش_السيد_علي على الحدود اللبنانية السورية#جنوب_لبنان #غزة #فلسطين_المحتلة #اسرائيل pic.twitter.com/w25CzLmIae
— Lebanon Trend (@LebanonTrend_) August 2, 2024
Israel has for years carried out attacks on what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran’s influence has grown since it began supporting Assad in a civil war that started in 2011, but rarely comments on them publicly.
Since Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre, which saw some 1,200 people killed in Israel and 253 kidnapped, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iranian-backed terror targets in Syria and has also struck Syrian army air defenses and some Syrian forces.
Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel since it started launching attacks from Lebanon a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas’s terror onslaught, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Hezbollah has muted its attacks following the killing of its military chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut on Tuesday and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday.
The Lebanese terror organization group claimed responsibility for five attacks on military positions in northern Israel on Friday.
Since the Hezbollah attacks began on October 8, the skirmishes in the north have resulted in 25 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 385 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing clashes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 69 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
