DAMASCUS: Syria’s interior ministry said Sunday that security forces thwarted an alleged cross-border attack from the country’s territory planned by remnants of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad and cells linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah.
From March 2 until a 10-day ceasefire went into force on April 17, Hezbollah was battling Israel after drawing Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire aimed at Israel in support of Tehran. In a statement, the interior ministry said security forces “arrested members of a sabotage cell” linked to Hezbollah and Assad remnants.
The ministry said the cell “was working to carry out an attack from inside Syrian territory on targets outside the borders” from Quneitra province, which borders Israel.
Syria’s official SANA news agency, quoting an interior ministry source, said Hezbollah “intended to launch missiles across the border with the aim of destabilising the country”.
Syrian authorities are hostile to Hezbollah as the group played a key role in Syria’s civil war that ended in 2024, fighting alongside the forces of now ousted leader Bashar al-Assad. The ministry said the Quneitra incident was the latest among “several attempts to destabilise the country and undermine public security” involving remnants of the former regime and unscrupulous individuals linked to Hezbollah”.
