“The Passage is closed”: Syria Announces Interception of Weapons Bound for Hezbollah

27th January 2025

1 minute read

"The Passage is closed": Syria Announces Interception of Weapons Bound for Hezbollah

In a sign of significant changes in Syria, authorities announced the seizure of weapons intended to be smuggled to the Lebanese Hezbollah.

Syria has long been a corridor for weapons sent by Iran to the Lebanese group. However, following the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad last December, Hezbollah Secretary General Naïm Qassem acknowledged the loss of this passage while downplaying the repercussions of this development.

The official Syrian news agency, SANA, reported that “the General Directorate of Border Security, after monitoring and follow-up, intercepted a shipment of weapons destined for the Lebanese Hezbollah via smuggling routes along the Syrian-Lebanese border, in the town of Serghaya in rural Damascus.”

This is the first time the new administration in Syria has announced the interception of weapons headed to Hezbollah in Lebanon since Assad‘s fall on December 8.

Clashes erupted at least twice between armed individuals across the Syrian-Lebanese border in December and this January, according to independent media outlets in both countries.

Two Killed in Tartous and Homs

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that elements of the General Security Directorate and the Military Operations Directorate raided the Qusour neighborhood in Banias, in the coastal province of Tartous, after a patrol was fired upon while passing through the area. The incident resulted in the death of a security officer and injured another.

The Observatory also reported that a commander in the Military Operations Directorate was killed during clashes with supporters of the former regime in the Talkalakh area, located in the western countryside of Homs.