BEIRUT: Israeli strikes late on Tuesday targeted Lebanon’s three northern border crossings with Syria for the first time, Lebanon’s transport minister Ali Hamieh told Reuters.
The strikes came moments after US President Joe Biden announced that a ceasefire would come into effect at 4:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Wednesday to halt hostilities between Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel.
Hamieh said it was not immediately clear whether the roads had been cut off as a result of the strikes. Israeli raids on Lebanon’s eastern crossings in recent weeks had already sealed off those routes into Syria.
Syria’s state news agency reported four civilians and two soldiers were killed, and 12 people were wounded including children, women and workers in the Syrian Red Crescent.
The Red Crescent said earlier a volunteer was killed and another was injured in “the aggression that targeted Al-Dabousyeh and Al-Arida crossings ... as they were performing their humanitarian duty of rescuing the wounded early on Wednesday.”
The strike damaged several ambulances and work points, it added in a statement.
Syrian state TV reported the Israeli strike hit the Arida and Dabousieh border crossings with Lebanon.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment. It has previously stated that it targets what it says are Iran-linked sites in Syria as part of a broader campaign to curb the influence of Iran and its ally Hezbollah in the region.
Separately, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Tuesday that it struck an Iranian-aligned militia weapons storage facility in Syria in response to an Iranian-aligned attack against US forces in the country on Monday.
Israeli strikes hit north Lebanon crossings with Syria for first time, minister says
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Israeli strikes hit north Lebanon crossings with Syria for first time, minister says
- Syria says 6 killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon border crossings
US envoy calls for ceasefire deal in northeastern Syria to be maintained
- Tom Barrack, ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, reiterates Washington’s support for Jan. 18 integration agreement between Syria’s government and Syrian Democratic Forces
LONDON: Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, on Monday reiterated Washington’s desire to ensure the ceasefire agreement in northeastern Syria between Syria’s government and the Syrian Democratic Forces continues.
In a message posted on social media platform X, he wrote: “Productive phone call this evening with his excellency Masoud Barzani to discuss the situation in Syria and the importance of maintaining the ceasefire and ensuring humanitarian assistance to those in need, especially in Kobani.”
Barzani has been the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party since 1979, and served as president of Kurdistan region between 2005 and 2017.
The current present, Nechirvan Barzani, previously welcomed a recent decree by the Syrian president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, officially recognizing the Kurdish population as an integral part of the country.
Barrack reiterated Washington’s support for efforts to advance the Jan. 18 agreement between Syria’s government and the SDF to integrate the latter into state institutions. The SDF is a Kurdish-led faction led by Mazloum Abdi that operates in northeastern Syria and recently clashed with government forces.
On Saturday, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the Syrian Ministry of Defense had announced a 15-day extension of the ceasefire deal.
