Arida Lebanon-Syria border crossing destroyed by Israel
The Arida border crossing has been destroyed. The Israeli strikes hit early this morning, and it wasn’t the first time this crossing was hit in the past few days. The Israeli military is saying it hit this crossing because Hezbollah was using it to smuggle weapons, although it did not provide any evidence.
This is a main transit route for people and goods. We have to remember that Lebanon’s lifeline is Syria, in the sense that the other border is with Israel, and Lebanon and Israel are in a state of war.
Syria is Lebanon’s only route to reach Gulf Arab countries, for example, to export fruit and vegetables. And there are many links between people on both sides of the border.
The Syrian conflict has no doubt spilled over into Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians had escaped into Lebanon since 2011, including those who had escaped persecution at the hands of the Syrian regime.
But others went to Lebanon as economic migrants looking for work and ways to survive, because although Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared victory and managed to remain in power, he was not able to rebuild the country.
The economy is a shambles, there’s a humanitarian crisis, people live on international aid when it’s available – so many people could not go back for economic reasons. And many young Syrian men in Lebanon refused to go back because they didn’t want to join the Syrian army.
The outcome of these rapid developments in Syria will no doubt affect the situation here, because the political divisions in Syria are also reflected here in Lebanon.
Israeli army says it is bolstering forces around border with Syria
The military says the move is due to developments in the civil war in the neighbouring country.
It deployed soldiers to the occupied Golan Heights, saying it is “raising their readiness according to the various scenarios”.
Lebanese army says committee to supervise Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire to meet
The army says in a post on X that the five-member “supervisory committee” will meet early next week.
Members of the committee, it said, including high-ranking US and French military officers, toured the “South Litani Sector” of Lebanon by helicopter to see “the reality on the ground” in advance of the meeting.
The US insists that the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is holding despite dozens of what the French government has termed “violations” of the agreement by Israel.
These “violations” are in the form of daily attacks on Lebanese territory, and have led to the killing and wounding of civilians.
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