Syria arrests Hezbollah-linked smugglers in Damascus: What to know
A crackdown on smuggling operations between Lebanon and Syria has intensified since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian security forces arrested several individuals on Wednesday for allegedly selling and smuggling weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, a move that could signal rising tensions between Syria’s new authorities and the Iran-backed group.
The Syrian Public Security Department apprehended the suspects during an operation in the al-Qutayfah area in the northern countryside of Damascus following intense “surveillance and investigation,” the official SANA news agency reported Wednesday. It did not reveal the number of people arrested or their identities.
Al-Qutayfah lies around 105 kilometers (65 miles) east of the border with Lebanon and faces the Baalbeck region, a known Hezbollah stronghold. On Feb. 2, Syrian security forces discovered a weapons warehouse in al-Qutayfah that had belonged to the former regime's forces. They confiscated large quantities of weapons, ammunition and missiles.
Wednesday’s arrests are the latest in a series of security measures launched by the Syrian government to thwart any smuggling attempts between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria.
