IDF says elite forces carried out rare cross-border raid from Syrian Hermon to southern Lebanon

The Israeli military says elite forces conducted a rare cross-border raid from Syria into Lebanon as part of efforts to prevent the entrenchment of terror organizations in the area.

Reservists of the Alpinist Unit, operating under the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade, “operated in complex mountainous terrain and crossed, by climbing through snow, from the Syrian Hermon to the Mount Dov area in southern Lebanon, to scan the area, collect intelligence, and locate enemy terror infrastructure in the area,” the IDF says.

The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries. Two posts are on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.

Troops have been operating to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group.

The military has reported foiling several attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon via Mount Hermon in the past year.