Israel says it has struck Hezbollah arms smuggling sites in Syria, testing a fragile ceasefire

TEL AVIV – Israeli planes struck Hezbollah weapons smuggling sites along Syria’s border with Lebanon, the Israeli military said on Saturday. testing a fragile ceasefire that lasted several days which halted months of fighting between the sides but saw continued sporadic fires.

The military said it struck sites that were used to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon after a ceasefire came into force, which the military said was a violation of its terms. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or activists monitoring the conflict in the country. Hezbollah also had no immediate comment.

The Israeli attack, the latest of several since a ceasefire began on Wednesday, came as unrest spread to other areas of the Middle East, with Syrian insurgents pouring into the country’s largest city, Aleppo, in a shock offensive that added fresh uncertainty to a region torn by many wars.

Ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, mediated by the United States and Francecalls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which militants are to withdraw north of the Litani River in Lebanon and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border.

Repeated outbreaks of violence – with no reports of serious casualties – reflected the uneasy nature of the ceasefire which otherwise seemed to apply. While Israel accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire, Lebanon also accused Israel of the same since it came into force.

Many Lebanese, some of the 1.2 million displaced by the conflict, they sailed south to their homesdespite warnings from the Israeli and Lebanese armies to stay away from certain areas.

Lebanon’s state-owned National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone attacked a car in the southern village of Majdal Zoun. The agency said there were casualties but gave no further details. Majdal Zoun, located near the Mediterranean Sea, is close to where Israeli troops are still present.

The military said earlier on Saturday that its forces, which remain in southern Lebanon pending a phased withdrawal over 60 days, were taking action to distance “suspects” in the region without giving details, and said soldiers had located and seized a hidden weapons in the mosque.

Israel says it reserves the right to strike against any alleged violations as part of the ceasefire. Israel made the return of tens of thousands of displaced Israelis home an objective of the war against Hezbollah, but the Israelis, concerned about Hezbollah, were not deterred and were still able to attack northern communities, they were afraid of returning home.

Hezbollah began attacks on Israel on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and its attack on southern Israel the day before. Israel and Hezbollah maintained a low-level conflict of cross-border fire for almost a year until Israel stepped up its fight against a sophisticated attack that detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah fighters. This was followed by an intense aerial bombing campaign against Hezbollah assets that killed many of its top leaders, including long-time warlord Hassan Nasrallahand began a land invasion in early October.

According to Lebanese health officials, Israeli fire in Lebanon has killed more than 3,760 people during the conflict, many of them civilians. The fighting has killed more than 70 people in Israel – more than half of them civilians – as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

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Mroue reported from Beirut.

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