Israel says struck Hezbollah ‘smuggling routes’ on Syria-Lebanon border

BEIRUT (AFP): Israel’s military said Friday it carried out strikes overnight targeting Hezbollah “weapon-smuggling routes” on the Syria-Lebanon border, just over a week into a fragile ceasefire in its war with the Lebanese group.

Official media in both Lebanon and Syria reported that the air raid put the Al-Arida border crossing – already hit during the Israel-Hezbollah war – out of service.

The Israeli air force “conducted strikes on weapon-smuggling routes and terror infrastructure sites located near the Syrian regime’s crossings at the Syrian-Lebanese border,” the military said in a statement that included a map identifying one of the targets as the Al-Arida crossing.

Syrian state news agency SANA said that “the Al-Arida border crossing between Syria and Lebanon is out of service again due to an Israeli attack that targeted it” early Friday.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said the strike “led to damage to infrastructure” and cut off the border road “again after the bridge was repaired” following a previous attack.

Israel has struck border crossings between Syria and Lebanon numerous times, saying it aims to prevent weapons smuggling from Syria into Lebanon.

The latest strike came amid mutual accusations between Israel and Hezbollah of violating the terms of a ceasefire agreement that came into effect on November 27, after about two months of full-blown war that followed nearly a year of low intensity clashes over the Gaza war.