Israel says strikes Lebanon-Syria border crossings used by Hezbollah

Israel said Friday it struck crossings on the Lebanon-Syria border used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, with a Syria war monitor reporting an unspecified number of people wounded in the attack.

The Israeli military said its air forces “struck crossing points in the area of the Lebanon-Syria border” used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group “in attempts to smuggle weapons into Lebanese territory”.

“These activities constitute a blatant violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the statement added.

A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been in place since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war. Both sides have accused the other of violating the deal.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the overnight strikes put an “illegal crossing” near Lebanon’s frontier town of Wadi Khaled, which borders Syria’s Homs province, “out of service” and wounded a number of people.

The raids came “after a convoy of smugglers’ vehicles was observed headed from Syria towards Lebanon”, added the Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman reported “heavy material damage to buildings and vehicles”.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported “enemy aircraft flying at low altitude over the city of Hermel” and villages in the Bekaa Valley in the country’s northeast near the Syrian border.

Under the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in south Lebanon alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was later extended to February 18.

Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israel announced just before the latest deadline that it would temporarily keep troops in “five strategic points” near the border.

Earlier this month, the Israeli military said it carried out an air strike targeting a tunnel on the Syria-Lebanon border used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.

In January, Israel carried out air strikes in Lebanon targeting areas in the east and south according to Lebanese state media, with the Israeli military saying it hit Hezbollah targets including smuggling routes along the border with Syria.

Syria shares a 330-kilometre (205-mile) border with Lebanon, with no official demarcation.

Hezbollah lost a supply route when Islamist-led rebels in December ousted ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes since war broke out in 2011.

Hezbollah holds sway in large parts of the Lebanese-Syrian border region, and had fought alongside Assad’s troops during the war.