Syria Reports Confrontation with Hezbollah's Efforts to Smuggle Drugs and Weapons

Syrian officials reported on Monday, February 11, that Syrian forces confronted Hezbollah militants from Lebanon and thwarted the efforts of this Iranian proxy group to smuggle drugs and weapons. According to AFP, Colonel Moyid Al-Salameh, commander of the western region in the Syrian Border Security Administration, told the official news agency SANA that Syrian forces engaged several times last week with smuggling gangs affiliated with Hezbollah in the border areas of Lebanon and Syria. He accused Bashar al-Assad's government of turning 'the Syria-Lebanon border into a corridor for drug trade in collaboration with Hezbollah militants' and added, 'Syrian army forces, in their recent confrontations with Hezbollah forces, have seized laboratories, warehouses, and production and packaging workshops for drugs, including hashish and Captagon, in border areas with Lebanon, as well as counterfeit currency printing devices and several weapons shipments.' Al-Salameh stated that 'we have developed a comprehensive plan for full border control,' identifying most smuggling gangs at the Lebanon border as affiliated with Hezbollah, and noted that the presence of these groups and their support for drug and weapon traffickers is 'now a threat to Syria.' News sources reported on Thursday, February 8, that the Syrian army, aligned with the new government of the country, engaged with Hezbollah forces in border areas for the first time since the fall of the Assad regime and the reduction of Hezbollah's influence in Syria. The new Syrian government has been working to secure its borders with Lebanon since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime on December 8, 2024, aiming to curb arms and drug smuggling. Hezbollah, the most important Iranian proxy group in the region, has relied on these smuggling routes for transporting weapons, drugs, and other vital equipment for its operations.