A precarious calm prevailed Friday evening along the Lebanese-Syrian border after intense clashes between Syrian forces of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Lebanese tribes involved in trafficking in which four people were killed and ten injured.
On Friday morning, artillery fire was launched by HTS towards the Jarmash area in Syria, following a night of violent clashes with drug traffickers and armed men affiliated with Hezbollah.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Friday that, as part of their efforts to combat drug trafficking, military operation units successfully infiltrated Hawik, which lies near Jarmash, outside the Hermel district in eastern Lebanon.
According to reports by al-Anbaa and confirmed by the SOHR, the 103rd Division of the military operation command set up border posts in the Qusayr area of Syria on Thursday evening. At the same time, they conducted a long-range search operation using machine guns, which resulted in one death and one injury in Hawik. This village, situated just 5 km from the Syrian-Lebanese border, is home to both Lebanese and Syrians.
SOHR sources added that the military operation command used Shaheen drones, heavy weapons, tanks and armored vehicles during their actions.
Al-Anbaa noted that “Hawik is a Syrian territory that belongs to the city of Qusayr and is administratively part of the municipality of Aqrabiyah. This means the Syrian forces did not enter Lebanon, as some media outlets have suggested.”
According to the same sources cited by al-Anbaa, during the search operations, Syrian forces demanded the evacuation of an observatory belonging to Hezbollah, which housed a number of drug traffickers (including members of the Zeaiter family) and weapons. “When these individuals refused to leave and began shooting at the Syrian forces, they responded by bombing the observatory and its surroundings,” the report continued.
Additionally, drug traffickers, aided by some Hawik residents, captured two Syrian army members and seized their vehicle, which was equipped with heavy machine guns. As a result, military units infiltrated the village and arrested its mukhtar (local official), a doctor and a third person, amid military tensions and exchanges of gunfire. The situation is reportedly close to resolution, as both sides have worked to settle the conflict and free all detained individuals.
Reactions From Syrian Authorities
In response to the events, the Syrian government media office in Homs province announced on Thursday, according to the Syrian News Agency (SANA), that the Border Security Department had launched a large-scale campaign in the border village of Hawik to close the smuggling routes for weapons and contraband.
“The campaign has led to the arrest of a number of wanted individuals involved in illegal smuggling operations, as well as the seizure of quantities of weapons and contraband in their possession,” the statement added.
The Syrian government media office also reported that during the campaign, clashes took place between border security forces and a group of wanted individuals, resulting in the abduction of two Syrian soldiers.
Later in the evening, Red Cross vehicles arrived at the hospital where the kidnapped Syrian soldiers were being held, with plans to transfer them to the Syrian army via the Joussiyeh border post. A prisoner exchange operation at the Al-Qaa checkpoint was also initiated by the Red Cross and the Lebanese Army following clashes between armed groups linked to the new Syrian administration and armed men from the tribes of the Hermel region.
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