Hezbollah denies link to Syrian cell accused of planning attack on rabbi in Damascus

Hezbollah denies any link to a cell accused by Syrian authorities of planning an attack on a religious figure in Damascus. The target has been identified in Israeli and Arabic media as Rabbi Michael Khoury, though this has not been confirmed.

The Iran-backed Lebanese terror group, which fought in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad until he was toppled in 2024, claims it has “no activity, no ties and no relationship with any party in Syria, and has no presence on Syrian soil.”

Claims linking Hezbollah to the accused cell were “false and fabricated,” the terror group says, calling on Syrian authorities “to conduct a thorough investigation before making accusations without evidence.”

It blames “the presence of intelligence services” on Syrian soil that it says were “seeking to inflame tensions between Lebanon and Syria.”

Syria’s interior ministry said Saturday that security forces had arrested a woman attempting to plant an explosive device in front of a house belonging to an unnamed religious figure in the Bab Touma area of the Syrian capital. Security forces dismantled the device and arrested five members of the cell, a ministry statement said.

According to initial investigations, the cell was linked to Hezbollah and “its members received specialized military training abroad,” the ministry added.