Syrian officials said on Sunday that they had thwarted a plot by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists of Lebanon to attack Israel from Syrian soil. The plot reportedly involved a disguised truck loaded with missile launchers.
According to the Syrian Interior Ministry, the truck was seized in Syria’s southern province of Quneitra, which includes the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The vehicle and its three occupants were kept under surveillance for some time before the Interior Ministry and Syria’s General Intelligence Service moved in to make an arrest.
The truck was loaded with “professionally prepared and concealed” missiles and launchers, which the perpetrators were allegedly planning to use in a surprise attack over the border into Israel. Syrian security forces said the truck was modified to launch 107mm rockets from its bed – a design popular with Iran-backed Shiite militia forces in Iraq.
Two suspects were taken into custody, while a third remains at large.
The Interior Ministry said the “sabotage cell” was linked to both Hezbollah and remnants of the Assad regime, which was overthrown by the current Syrian government in December 2024. The cell planned to “launch missiles across the border with the aim of destabilizing the country.”
Syrian officials said there have been “several attempts to destabilize the country and undermine public security” by “remnants of the former regime and unscrupulous individuals linked to Hezbollah.”
Another example occurred last week, when a terrorist cell linked to Hezbollah allegedly attempted to use a bomb to murder “a religious figure in the vicinity of the Maronite Church in Bab Touma.” Subsequent reports indicated the target was Rabbi Michael Khoury, although this has not been confirmed by the Syrian government.
The Syrian Interior Ministry seized a massive cache of weapons and explosives from the cell. Five more alleged members were arrested on Sunday.
Hezbollah claims it has “no activity, no ties and no relationship with any party in Syria and has no presence on Syrian soil.” When the Syrian government directly accused Hezbollah of participating in the Bab Touma plot, the Lebanese terrorist group said the claims were “false and fabricated” by unspecified “intelligence services” that wanted to “inflame tensions between Lebanon and Syria.”
Hezbollah is regarded with disapproval by Damascus because it supported dictator Bashar Assad against the coalition of rebels and jihadis who eventually overthrew him, as did Hezbollah’s masters in Iran. In the time since Assad’s ouster, Syria has cut off Hezbollah supply routes and shut down its drug smuggling operations.
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