The Lebanon-Syria border has been mostly quiet for the path month after a brief incursion by Syria’s government, the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in early February. Now there is renewed fighting in the exact same area after HTS carried out overnight shelling against the village of al-Qasr, on the Lebanon side of the border.
The new fighting centers around the death of three HTS members on Saturday. They were allegedly kidnapped by Hezbollah, brought to al-Qasr, and summarily executed. Hezbollah has denied all involvement, and there are alternative allegations that the clans involved in the early February fighting may have been the ones who did it.
The shelling against al-Qasr caused damage, and led a number of villagers to flee further from the border, toward the larger town of Hermel. The Lebanese Army reported they returned fire against the Syrian forces, and both sides are sending reinforcements to the area.
The Lebanese Army’s statement confirmed the killing of three HTS members inside Lebanon but did not indicate who was the culprit. They said they returned the bodies to Syrian authorities, though since the started exchanging fire not long after, that sort of contact probably isn’t continuing.
Though Syria has a much larger military than Lebanon, they do not appear to have gotten out of the exchange of fire unscathed. At least five additional Syrian soldiers have been reported to have been slain in the fighting, though this has not been confirmed yet by Syrian officials. Casualties on the Lebanon side are similarly unreported at this time.
Syrian state media SANA has reported that two civilians, a journalist and a photographer, were injured at the border while covering the fighting. SANA is claiming Hezbollah fired a missile at their location, killing a soldier and wounded them, though again, Hezbollah insists they are not involved in this fighting at all.
The February fighting started in the area with allegations that the clans in Haweek (a border village that spans both sides of the Syria-Lebanon border and is effectively part of metro al-Qasr for the sake of the map) crossed into the Syrian side of the border and captured HTS people. This led HTS to raid the other side of the border, and trade shelling.
At the time, this was presented as largely about the smuggling of Captagon pills, which the clans in question have long been accused of participating in. The HTS also presented the clans as effectively part of Hezbollah though, based on the official HTS narrative that Hezbollah was involved in the drug trade. In this case, that might suggest the distinction between local clans resisting HTS attacks and Hezbollah fighting them may simply be one Syria isn’t choosing to make.
Syria’s military buildup at the border seems large given this is simply an exchange of fire involving Lebanon’s small army and some local factions. There are reports the Syrian forces have deployed tanks to the border area, and the army chief has promised to send enough troops to the border to “prevent infiltration.”
