Israel blocks Lebanon’s main crossing to Syria

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on September 28, 2024. --Rabih DAHER / AFP

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM—Israeli strikes sealed off Lebanon’s main border crossing with Syria early on Friday, hours after an intense Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to Hezbollah’s slain secretary general.

Lebanese transport minister Ali Hamieh told Reuters Friday’s strike on the Syrian border hit inside Lebanese territory near the crossing, creating a 4-meter (12-feet) wide crater.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had accused Hezbollah on Thursday of using the crossing with Syria to transport military equipment into Lebanon.

According to Lebanese government statistics, more than 300,000 people—a vast majority of them Syrian—had crossed from Lebanon into Syria over the last 10 days to escape Israeli bombardment.

The southern suburb of Dahiye, a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, came under renewed strikes near midnight on Thursday after Israel ordered people to leave their homes in some areas, residents and security sources said.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday Israel’s response could include a strike on Iran’s oil facilities.

Reuters

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