The Syrian Defense Ministry said it had reinforced its border with Lebanon, and eight Syrian and Lebanese sources said this included rocket units and thousands of troops, as the conflict spread across the region, including between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The sources included five Syrian military officials, one Syrian security official and two Lebanese security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday (local time) that the army has reinforced its forces along the Syrian borders with Lebanon and Iraq as part of efforts to “secure and control the borders amid the growing regional conflict.”
Continues after advertising
The units deployed belong to border guard and reconnaissance battalions tasked with monitoring border activities and combating smuggling, the ministry added.
Syrian officials said the Syrian reinforcement operation began in February but accelerated in recent days. The Syrian and Lebanese Armed Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Syrian officials, including a senior military officer, said the move was aimed at preventing weapons and drug smuggling, as well as blocking infiltration into Syria by Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah or other militants.
A Syrian official told Reuters that military formations from several divisions of the Syrian Army, including the 52nd and 84th Divisions, have expanded their presence along the border in rural western Homs and south of Tartus.
Reinforcements include infantry units, armored vehicles and short-range Grad and Katyusha rocket launchers, the official said.
The Syrian security official said Damascus had no plans for military action against any neighboring country. “But Syria is prepared to deal with any threat to its security or that of its partners,” he said.
Continues after advertising
Still, the move fueled concern among some European and Lebanese officials about a possible incursion.
Syrian military officials have vehemently denied any such plan, saying Syria wants balanced relations with its neighbor after decades of tense ties linked to Syria’s disproportionate 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 to 2005, including during the Lebanese civil war that ended in 1990.
Continues after advertising
Hezbollah resumed attacks against Israel on Monday, more than a year after the ceasefire agreement that ended a months-long war in 2024. Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued almost daily attacks.
This week, Israel ordered most residents of southern Lebanon to leave the area, with tens of thousands of people displaced. Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon and south Beirut have killed dozens of people and driven thousands to flee to Syria.
A senior Lebanese security official said Syrian authorities informed 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 could launch against Syria.”
Continues after advertising
