The Islamist regime of Ahmad al-Shara’a in Damascus has declared war on Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, the Hezbollah terrorist army, with skirmishes heating up along the border.
Al-Shara’a, (Abu Muhammad al-Julani) led the Sunni Muslim Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group in overthrowing former President Bashar al-Assad last December.
Since that time, al-Shara’a has worked to consolidate and organize his new government as he begins to establish his foreign relations in the region.
Shiite Islamic Iran and its proxies are not among those with whom the Syrian leader has chosen to build new ties, and he has rebuffed attempts by Hezbollah to re-establish its former military presence in the country.
This weekend, Julani launched a large-scale attack against Hezbollah along the Syrian-Lebanese border, with his HTS forces pounding Lebanese villages with heavy rocket fire.
The Syrian Defense Ministry told the state-run SANA news agency that Hezbollah had “ambushed and kidnapped three members of the Syrian Arab Army on the Syrian-Lebanese border near the Zeita Dam, west of Homs, before taking them to Lebanese territory and executing them on the spot. “We will take all necessary measures after this dangerous escalation by Hezbollah militias,” the news outlet quoted the ministry saying.
The Lebanese Armed Forces handed over the three Syrian soldiers’ bodies to the Lebanese Red Cross at the Jousieh-Q’aa border crossing with Syria, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.
In addition, the General Directorate of Information in Homs Governorate told SANA on Monday that a photographer and a journalist were injured on the Syrian-Lebanese border near the Zeita Dam after being directly targeted by a guided missile fired by Hezbollah militia.
Live footage from the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya Network showed the moment an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah loyalists from Lebanon hit the area where journalists and soldiers of the new Syrian regime are located in Syrian territory, the Abu Ali Express news outlet reported.
Hezbollah has officially disavowed the incident, although according to Abu Ali, “It is assumed that they are linked to Hezbollah and have common interests with them (arms dealers and smugglers) and some may even be operatives.” Nevertheless, thus far there is no definite evidence that they are salaried Hezbollah operatives.
Also on Monday, Lebanese media reported that two Lebanese men, Mohammed and Ahmed Nour Medlej, were killed after being kidnapped at dawn by Syrian General Security forces from their home in Fadiliyah, inside Lebanese territory. Their bodies, beheaded, were found in the al-Sadd area of Matarba, on the border with Syria.
The Syrian regime reportedly carried out the attack in revenge for the murder of three Syrian soldiers “who crossed into Lebanon armed, to steal sheep.”
Hezbollah has meanwhile denied involvement in the border clashes, despite a report from local sources describing a “deadly skirmish” between Syrian troops and Lebanese residents in Hermel.
