Israel strikes Syria road, cuts off Lebanon
Hezbollah relies on Syria to transport arms and other equipment from its main backer Iran.
Hezbollah relies on Syria to transport arms and other equipment from its main backer Iran.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Friday cut off the main international road to Syria, after Israel said Hezbollah was transporting weapons through the tiny Mediterranean country’s principal land border crossing.
Israel’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee accused Hezbollah of using the main international border crossing out of Lebanon into Syria to transport weapons.
Hezbollah has historically relied on Syria, with which it is allied, to transport arms and other equipment from its main backer Iran.
Masnaa, as it is known, is the main overland crossing out of the country, and the strike could leave thousands who are unable to fly out trapped.
Another strike late Thursday targeted a warehouse near the capital’s airport, a source close to Hezbollah said.
The strike on Masnaa, which Israel has not commented on, comes after 310,000 people, mostly Syrians, have in recent days fled the war pitting Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon for relative safety in neighboring Syria.
It follows an intense night of bombardment of Hezbollah’s main bastion in the southern suburbs of Beirut, with a United States news website saying Israel targeted the militant group’s potential successor just a week after it killed its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
A target of one of Israel’s recent Beirut strikes was Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to Hezbollah chief Nasrallah who was assassinated a week ago, US news site Axios said, citing three Israeli officials it did not identify.
The Israeli military did not confirm the report.
Israel’s bombing in Lebanon has killed more than 1,000 people since the start of the escalation on 23 September, according to the Lebanese health ministry, and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in a country already mired in economic crisis.
The overnight strikes shook buildings in Beirut, with Agence France-Presse correspondents in the city hearing successive loud explosions.
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