Syrian soldier killed by Hezbollah rocket; 3 dead as Syrian troops shell Lebanon village
2 children reported among dead in Beqaa region as Syrian army operates against terror group; IDF says it hit a command center of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in south Lebanon
A Syrian soldier was reported killed by Hezbollah rocket fire and at least three people were killed as the Syrian army shelled a Lebanese village, amid ongoing clashes between troops from the new regime and operatives from the terror group, Arabic-language media reported Monday.
The soldier was said to have been killed by a Hezbollah rocket fired across the border from Lebanon during the clashes.
Footage broadcast by the Saudi Al Arabiya network showed the moment when its crew on the Syrian-Lebanese border was hit by a reported Hezbollah rocket.
The video showed the rocket impacting close to a reporter and camera crew.
Another clip showed wounded journalists, as well as an apparent Syrian soldier, running away from the impact site.
Meanwhile, three people were reported killed when the Syrian army shelled villages near the border in the Beqaa Valley area of eastern Lebanon. Two of the dead were said to be children.
????بث مباشر
لحظة إصابة عصابات النصرة التكفيرية وكوادرها الإعلامية قناة العربية السعودية، لصاروخ موجهه في الحدود اللبنانية السورية. pic.twitter.com/5wpoioPhZt
— AHMAD SLMAN (@ahmad1slman) March 17, 2025
It was unclear what led to the firing on the village.
The Lebanese army was quoted as saying it had orders to respond to any shooting from Syria.
The Syrian army recently began operations against Hezbollah’s presence on Syrian territory, mainly with the aim of confiscating weaponry intended to reach the organization.
لحظة تعرض طاقم العربية لاستهداف مباشر من قبل حزب الله عند الحدود السورية اللبنانية #قناة_العربية pic.twitter.com/TBpLMMAZG3
— العربية سوريا (@AlArabiya_SY) March 17, 2025
On Sunday, Syria’s defense ministry accused Hezbollah of abducting three Syrian soldiers, taking them to Lebanon and killing them there.
The terror group denied any involvement in the clashes.
Hezbollah was a key backer of Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad before he was toppled in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels in December.
It was reported that many Hezbollah operatives present in Syria at the time of the uprising fled to Lebanon.
Following the ousting of Assad, Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria and sent troops into the demilitarized buffer zone of the Golan in the southwest of country.
Israel has said that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized. Under Assad, Syria became a staging ground for the smuggling of countless Iran-linked weapons to Hezbollah, which has fought several wars and fired tens of thousands of rockets at Israel over the years.
Most recently, there was more than a year of fighting that began when the Lebanese terror group attacked unprovoked on October 8, 2023, a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas launched its murderous October 7 onslaught. Hezbollah and Hamas are both backed by Iran and sworn to Israel’s destruction.
Last month, Syria’s new authorities announced the launch of a security campaign in the border province of Homs, aimed at shutting down routes used for arms and goods smuggling.
They accused Hezbollah of launching attacks, saying it was sponsoring cross-border smuggling gangs.
Meanwhile, on Sunday evening, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon, saying it targeted a Hezbollah command center and other buildings used by the terror group.
The command center belonged to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, according to the IDF.
Lebanese media reported at least one person was killed in the strikes.
“The presence of these terror infrastructure sites constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon. The IDF will not allow this kind of activity and will act against it,” the military said, adding that “the IDF will strike armed terrorists in southern Lebanon, and will operate in order to remove any threat to the State of Israel.”
A November 27, 2024, truce in Lebanon largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.
Last month, Israel withdrew all its forces from southern Lebanon, except from five strategic points, saying it had received a green light from the US to remain at those posts and citing the need to prevent Hezbollah from returning to the area and posing a threat to Israel.
Agencies contributed to this report.
