Syria sends thousands of troops to Lebanon border, sources say

By Feras Dalatey , Timour Azhari, Laila Bassam and Mahmoud Hassano

DAMASCUS/BEIRUT, March 3 (Reuters) - Syria has reinforced its border with Lebanon with rocket units and thousands of troops, eight Syrian and Lebanese sources said on Tuesday, as conflict spread in the region including between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The sources included five Syrian military officers, a Syrian security official and two Lebanese security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Syrian officers said the Syrian reinforcement operation began in February but sped up in recent days. The Syrian and Lebanese armed forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Syrian officers, including a senior member of the military, said the move was aimed at preventing arms and drugs smuggling as well blocking Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah or other militants from infiltrating Syria.

A Syrian officer told Reuters that military formations from several Syrian army divisions, including the 52nd and 84th Divisions, have expanded their presence along the border in western Homs countryside and south of Tartus.

The reinforcements include infantry units, armored vehiclesand short-range Grad and Katyusha rocket launchers, the official said.

The Syrian security official said Damascus had no plans for military action against any neighboringcountry. “But Syria is prepared to deal with any security threat to itself or its partners,” he said.

Still, the move has fueled concern among some European and Lebanese officials over a possible incursion.

The Syrian military officers vehemently denied any such plans, saying Syria wants balanced relations with its neighbor after decades of strained ties linked to Syria's outsized influence in Lebanon and Hezbollah's support for the former government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a 14-year civil war.

Syria had troops stationed in Lebanon from 1976 until 2005 including during Lebanon's civil war that ended in 1990.

Hezbollah resumed firing at Israel on Monday more than a year after reaching a ceasefire to a months-long war in 2024. Since that ceasefire, Israel continued near-daily strikes.

Israel this week ordered much of Lebanon's south evacuated, with tens of thousands of people displaced. Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon's South and southern Beirut have killed dozens and prompted thousands of people to flee towards Syria.

A senior Lebanese security official said Syrian authorities told Beirut that Syria's deployment of rocket launchers along the mountains that form Lebanon's eastern border with Syria was a “defensive measure against any action or attack that Hezbollah might launch against Syria."

(Writing by Timour Azhari and Feras Dalatey; Editing by)