Hezbollah members attend the funeral of a killed terrorist. (Shutterstock)
Damascus accuses the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group of abducting three Syrian soldiers, smuggling them across the border to Lebanon, and murdering them.
By World Israel News Staff
The Syrian government on Sunday accused a Lebanese terrorist group formerly allied with Syria of abducting and murdering three Syrian soldiers, prompting missile and artillery fire from Syria into Lebanon.
On Sunday night, the Syrian defense ministry claimed that terrorists from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization, a Shi’ite movement which had enjoyed close ties with the Assad regime prior to its ouster in December 2024, abducted three Syrian soldiers, forcing them across the border into Lebanon, and murdering them.
“A group from the Hezbollah militia kidnapped three members of the Syrian army on the Syrian-Lebanese border before taking them to Lebanese territory and eliminating them,” Syrian government mouthpiece SANA reported, citing the defense ministry.
“The defense ministry will take all the necessary measures after this dangerous escalation from the Hezbollah militia.”
According to Syria, the three soldiers were abducted near the Zeita Dam in western Syria, close to the Lebanese frontier.
The Syrian army retaliated with artillery fire and missile strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, according to Al Arabiya and Lebanese media outlets.
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Hezbollah issued a statement denying involvement in the attack on the Syrian troops.
“We reiterate what we have previously announced repeatedly: Hezbollah has no connection to any events taking place within Syrian territory.”
The bodies of the three Syrian soldiers were reportedly discovered in the Qasr area by Lebanese Army troops, who transferred the remains to the Lebanese Red Cross for return to Syria.
A Lebanese security official told AFP that the three Syrian soldiers were not kidnapped and had in fact crossed into Lebanon while on duty and that they were subsequently shot by smugglers.
IDF soldiers pray in a makeshift synagogue on the Lebanese border, February 24, 2025.
A report from Al-Arabiya this week states that the Trump administration has been delivering strong messages to the Lebanese government in recent weeks regarding the security situation in southern Lebanon. Sources familiar with the discussions indicate that the US is demanding swift and tangible progress within a short timeframe.
According to the report, senior officials from the White House and the State Department have emphasized that “President Trump expects results very soon.” They reportedly stressed that there is no time to waste and that measurable achievements in Lebanese-Israeli relations must be announced within weeks. The message, as cited by Al-Arabiya, included “a direct warning that Trump may permit large-scale Israeli military operations in Lebanon if the required outcomes are not met.”
The Al-Arabiya report echoes a mid-February report from the Lebanese newspaper Al-Liwaa, which claimed that President Donald Trump had given the Lebanese government a one-month ultimatum to deploy its army and disarm militias, primarily Hezbollah, as well as Palestinian factions in refugee camps across Lebanon. At that time, Trump reportedly warned Lebanese officials that if his demands were not met, his administration would push for the UN Security Council to place Lebanon under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, allowing for the deployment of an international force to dismantle Hezbollah.
Morgan Ortagus, deputy special presidential envoy for Middle East peace. / Mystery.user777 / Wikimedia
Morgan Ortagus, deputy special presidential envoy for Middle East peace, under United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, has declared that the US plans to bring Lebanon and Israel into dedicated diplomatic talks to resolve pending issues between them. According to Al-Arabiya, the US intends to organize working groups led by diplomats for an intense effort to instill peace between the two neighboring countries.
Alongside these demands, the US approved $95 million in military aid to Lebanon. A State Department spokesperson underscored that strengthening the army and supporting Lebanese sovereignty along the southern Litani is the only viable path to security and stability in the region.
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Prof. Eyal Ziser from Tel Aviv University told Israel’s 104.5FM last week that Trump seems determined to impose peace on all the parties in the Middle East. Now, he seeks for Syria and Lebanon to join the Abraham Accords.
The professor, a Middle East expert, admitted that this process entails navigating through complex and challenging technical issues.
Patricia Karam of the Arab Center in Washington DC wrote in December that everything changed between Lebanon and Israel, and consequently between Lebanon and Hezbollah on September 28, when “Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, who cultivated an almost inviolable aura, was killed by Israel, while the party’s invincibility was shattered, casting further doubt on its future.”
“The Israeli assault on Hezbollah, which coincided with deepening divisions within Lebanon regarding the party’s involvement in supporting Gaza, has exposed Lebanon to the tangible possibility of irreversible collapse. Hezbollah and its cache of weapons had long been a bone of contention internally—leading to growing anger among some segments of the population over the group’s decision to start a ‘war of support’ for Hamas with Israel,” wrote Karam.
However, with Nasrallah gone and his terror group broken, “Those who were vocal in their opposition to Lebanon being dragged into another war are now calling for the complete disarmament of Hezbollah and accountability for its political repression to silence critics and political opponents.”
Finally, On February 26, Steve Witkoff stated during an event of the American Jewish Committee in DC: “Lebanon, by the way, could actually mobilize and come into the Abraham Peace Accords, as could potentially Syria.”
He pointed out that “significant changes” are underway and noted that despite the challenges both countries have faced, Syria and Lebanon might still move toward normalization.
Witkoff also expressed optimism about ongoing efforts to encourage Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, which in 2020 normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.
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Israel is preparing for the possibility that the Houthis will respond to US strikes on Yemen by launching missiles towards Israel, Channel 12 News reported.
Though the Houthis have not declared an intention to strike Israel, security sources estimate that there is a possibility the Houthis will fire towards Israel.
The report said that Israel’s defense echelon is now on high alert, and the Israeli Air Defense Command has raised its alert level to the highest possible, despite the fact that there is no concrete warning at this time.
The defense echelon also stressed that Israel has already proved its ability to handle the missile and UAV threats.
Arab media reported that the Houthi response to the US attacks has already begun, and the US army has intercepted 12 UAVs launched by the rebels towards the USS Truman aircraft carrier from which the launch was attacked.
Al Arabiya reported that Abed al-Rab Jafraan, who heads Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi’s security team, was killed two days ago in the US strike on Yemen.
