How effective are the US strikes on the Houthis?

Analysis How effective are the US strikes on the Houthis?
The location was given as “somewhere over the US Central Command area of responsibility.” (US Central Command)
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How effective are the US strikes on the Houthis?

How effective are the US strikes on the Houthis?
  • Fate of militia’s leaders unknown as health ministry blames US campaign for deaths of scores of people, including women and children
  • Prospect of prolonged campaign raises questions of cost, Israeli role and US ability to weaken Houthi defenses and eliminate key leaders

LONDON: Few took notice of a five-minute video posted on YouTube on Friday by Media Magik Entertainment, an American “veteran-owned company” that regularly uploads public-relations footage shot by the US military.

The short film, which by the weekend had attracted only a few hundred views, showed a flight of four US Navy F/A-18 fighter jets, assigned to the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, refueling in the air above a semi-mountainous desert landscape.

The location was given as “somewhere over the US Central Command area of responsibility.” CENTCOM’s area includes the Red Sea, Arabian Gulf and the entire Middle East.

The footage ended with an on-screen message from CENTCOM. The carrier strike group, it read, “is ready … to execute the full spectrum of carrier operations essential to US national security, including the defense of the US and partner forces … and freedom of navigation to ensure maritime security and stability.”




CENTCOM said that the strikes, which so far had hit radar sites, missile defenses and missile and drone systems, could last for days. (AFP)

At that moment the nuclear-powered Nimitz-class Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier was at the northern end of the Red Sea, having passed through the Suez Canal in December.

The following day millions around the world watched footage of some of those same aircraft taking off from the carrier, bound for targets in Yemen as part of a package of strikes aimed at the Houthis, formally designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organization on March 4.

The video released by the US military — of fighters taking off from the aircraft carrier, missiles launching from ships and the black-and-white drone-shot footage of missiles striking targets marked by crosshairs — was eerily reminiscent of the nightly news footage that was seen throughout the “shock and awe” phase of the US-led invasion of Iraq over 20 years ago.

On Truth Social, his social media platform, President Trump announced he had ordered the US military “to launch decisive and powerful military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen,” who had “waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”

CENTCOM said that the strikes, which so far had hit radar sites, missile defenses and missile and drone systems, could last for days and, depending on the Houthi response, could “intensify in scope and scale.”

Targets on the first day of strikes included a building in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, described as a Houthi stronghold; a power station in the town of Dahyan, close to the northern city of Saada; and military sites in the southern city of Taiz.

Strikes continued throughout the weekend and into Monday, concentrating on targets in Al-Jawf governorate, adjacent to Saudi Arabia’s southern border with Yemen, and in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.




Strikes continued throughout the weekend and into Monday. (Google Earth)

“CENTCOM has shifted from the mission as a ‘defensive operation’ for protecting international shipping to a large-scale operation,” Hisham Mgdashi, a Yemeni military and security analyst, said in an assessment of the US military attacks on X.

“The latest strikes targeted entirely new locations that had not been previously hit. Hitting Al-Jarraf is strategically comparable to striking Dahiyeh in Beirut. The continued waves of operations suggest that a pre-planned target list is being systematically executed.”

In a post on X on Monday morning, Houthi health ministry spokesman Anis Al-Asbahi said that the US strikes had so far killed 53 people, including “five children and two women,” and wounded 98 others. As yet there is no confirmation of US claims that “key Houthi figures” were targeted and have been killed.

The Houthis had actually paused their attacks on shipping in January but appeared poised to resume them. On March 7 Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, the group’s leader, released a statement on X, saying he was giving the mediators of the Gaza peace process “a four-day deadline. If the Israeli enemy continues to withhold humanitarian aid from the Gaza Strip, we will resume our naval operations against them. We will respond to the siege with a siege in the Red Sea.”

Al-Houthi’s whereabouts are currently unknown. Five days ago, a source within the Houthi militia told Newsweek magazine that it was “proceeding with extreme caution” to protect its leadership, “but at the same time, we are highly prepared to make sacrifices and cannot back down.”




It is quite possible that the Houthis have a sufficiently large and well distributed arsenal to resume and keep up their attacks on shipping for some time. (Ansarullah Media Centre/AFP)

It is not known if Al-Houthi is on the American hit list, but Israel has already made clear its eagerness to see him killed. In December Energy Minister Eli Cohen told an Israeli radio station: “I’m sending a message to the Houthi leader that if he continues with his actions, he will end up exactly like (Hamas leader) Sinwar and (Hezbollah Secretary-General) Nasrallah.” Both Sinwar and Nasrallah were killed in separate attacks last year by Israeli forces.

It is also unclear whether Israel will join the US assault on the Houthis, but in the recent past it has attacked Yemen unilaterally, its aircraft hitting port facilities in September in response to missile attacks on Israel from Yemen.

The Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping began after the Hamas assault on Israel in October 2023. Since then, Trump said, the last American warship to pass through the Red Sea “was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times.”

In November 2024, the Biden administration had authorized a series of airstrikes “against multiple Houthi weapons storage facilities (which) housed a variety of advanced conventional weapons used by the Iran-backed Houthis to target US and international military and civilian vessels navigating international waters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.”

FASTFACTS

• Iran-backed Houthis descended from Saada to seize most of north Yemen, including Sanaa, in 2014. 

• Yemen’s UN-recognized government, backed by a coalition, has been fighting the militia since then. 

• The conflict has left 150,000+ dead and thousands more wounded, both combatants and civilians. 

• Yemen’s govt. ‘monitored and documented’ 1,985 violations committed by the Houthis during 2024.


But this response, Trump wrote on Truth Social at the weekend, had been “pathetically weak.” Now, by contrast, “we will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.”

Resorting to his trademark capitals for emphasis, Trump added: “To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”

That seems highly possible, given the predictable response from the Houthis: “The American aggression on Yemen,” they said in a statement, “is a criminal escalation that will not break the resolve of the Yemeni people and will only increase their determination to support Gaza and the resistance.”




President Donald Trump looks on as military strikes are launched against the Houthis. (White House)

On Monday, the Houthis claimed to have launched two attacks against the US carrier group in the Red Sea over the weekend. An anonymous US official cited by some media reports confirmed the carrier and other ships had been targeted by 11 drones, all of which had been shot down, and a missile that fell into the sea. No US ships were hit.

“The idea that you’re going to do this massive wave of airstrikes and the Houthis are just going to lie on their backs and take it is absurd,” Mohammad Albasha, founder of Basha Report, a US-based Middle East security advisory, told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. “They’re going to retaliate and retaliate severely. It’s going to be a vicious cycle.”

Regardless of the scale of any Houthi response, analysts say the US military strikes look like the beginning of a sustained campaign that could last for weeks regardless of how high the final bill for the Pentagon. “The minute the Houthis say, ‘We’ll stop shooting at your ships, we’ll stop shooting at your drones,’ this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting,” Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, told Fox News, describing freedom of navigation as “a core national interest.”

The Houthi attacks on shipping have been cripplingly effective. According to a statement released by the White House on Saturday, since November 2023, when the Houthis seized the M/V Galaxy Leader and began to attack commercial shipping with anti-ship missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles, they have attacked US warships more than 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times.

As a result, the number of merchant ships passing through the Red Sea has more than halved from 25,000 a year to about 10,000, having “a sustained negative effect on global trade and the economic security of the United States.”




The Houthis had actually paused their attacks on shipping in January but appeared poised to resume them. (AFP)

An estimated 75 percent of US- and UK-affiliated vessels now reroute around Africa instead of risking a transit of the Red Sea. Traveling via the Cape of Good Hope instead of the Red Sea and Suez Canal adds an average of 10 days to voyages to Europe from the Middle East or Far East, with an estimated additional fuel cost of $1 million for each trip.

That factor alone, claims the White House, was responsible for increasing global consumer goods inflation between 0.6 and 0.7 percent in 2024.

The Trump administration is signaling that the attacks on the Houthis, while designed to end their attacks on Red Sea shipping, are also a warning shot aimed at Tehran.

“Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY,” Trump warned Iran. If not, “BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”

Shortly after, in an interview with ABC, Mike Waltz, White House national security adviser, delivered a heavy hint that direct action against Iran was now being considered by the administration.

“All options are always on the table with the president, but Iran needs to hear him loud and clear,” he said.




A US F/A-18 fighter aircraft preparing for take off. (CENTCOM)

“It is completely unacceptable, and it will be stopped, the level of support that they have been providing the Houthis, just like they have Hezbollah, the militias in Iraq, Hamas and others.

“The previous administration had a series of feckless responses. President Trump is coming in with overwhelming force (and) we will hold not only the Houthis accountable but we’re going to hold Iran, their backers, accountable as well.”

That accountability also extends to concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. On March 7 Trump said at the White House that Iran would not be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

“We are at final moments with Iran,” he said. “Something’s going to happen very soon. There’ll be some interesting days ahead, that’s all I can tell you. You know, we’re down to final strokes with Iran.”

He had, he said, sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, “saying, I hope you're going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it's going to be a terrible thing for them.”

Tehran’s UN mission later said that no such letter had been received.

Speaking on ABC News on Saturday, Stephen Ganyard, a military analyst and retired US Marine Corps colonel, said the “intended audience” of the weekend attacks “was Iran. The Trump administration has made it clear that they want the Iranians to negotiate an end to their nuclear program, and if they don’t there could be military action like we saw tonight, directly against Iran.”




It is not known if Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al- Houthi is on the US hit list. (X)

Meanwhile, although US forces are obviously capable of identifying and hitting targets with pinpoint accuracy, it is quite possible that the Houthis have a sufficiently large and well distributed arsenal to resume and keep up their attacks on shipping for some time.

“The Houthis have been able to maintain their pressure campaign despite efforts from the US, EU and the international community to restrain attacks,” Caroline Rose, director of the Strategic Blind Spots Portfolio at the New Lines Institute, told Arab News by email. “While Iran’s proxy network in the Levant has largely become dislodged — between Hezbollah’s decline in Lebanon, the departure of the Assad regime in Syria, and a decline of militia influence in Iraq — it’s likely that Iran has channeled its attention and resources toward the Houthis, given their effectiveness in launching strikes against commercial maritime vessels and military assets as an extension of the conflict in Gaza.”


According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, over the past few years “the Houthis have amassed a remarkably diverse array of anti-ship weaponry”. In a research paper published in December the IISS concluded that the Houthis possessed at least six different types of ballistic anti-ship missile, with ranges from between less than 200 and up to 1,300 km, “all of which either originate from Iran or are based on Iranian technology.”

In addition, when the Houthis seized control in northern Yemen in 2014-15, “they inherited a number of older Soviet and Chinese anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs) from Yemen’s pre-war navy,” and since then had been receiving regular shipments of Iranian ASCMs.

Other weapons the Houthis have deployed against shipping include Sammad drones, also of Iranian origin, which are used both to identify and, carrying an 18kg warhead, to strike targets, and fast, remotely controlled unmanned boats packed with explosives. This type of surface weapon was first used in 2017 in an attack on the Saudi frigate Al-Madinah, which killed two of the crew, and has been deployed against Red Sea shipping over the past year.

The size of the Houthis’ anti-ship arsenal is not known. What is clear, however, according to IISS, is that “the international arms embargo that has been in place against the Houthis since 2015 has demonstrably failed to prevent them from obtaining increasingly advanced weapons from Iran and other sources.”




President Trump announced he had ordered the US military “to launch decisive and powerful military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen.” (White House)

Nevertheless, the Trump administration seems determined to “punch back,” in the words of Morgan Ortagus, the deputy presidential special envoy to the Middle East.

“Terrorists are not going to be allowed to shoot at US Navy ships, to shoot at our soldiers, to shoot at our commercial vessels, to impede free and fair commerce and trade,” she said, speaking on Fox News on Sunday.

“We’re going to put an end to that … these are not the strikes from the Biden administration that were for show.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reinforced that message in a recent appearance on CBS News. The US, he said, was “doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping. That's the mission here, and it will continue until that’s carried out.”

 


Israel resumes fighting in Gaza with airstrikes that kill at least 44 people

Israel resumes fighting in Gaza with airstrikes that kill at least 44 people
Updated 41 sec ago
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Israel resumes fighting in Gaza with airstrikes that kill at least 44 people

Israel resumes fighting in Gaza with airstrikes that kill at least 44 people
  • Israel’s defense minister says Israel has “resumed fighting” in Gaza and is vowing to press ahead until all remaining hostages are released
  • A senior Hamas official accused Israel of unilaterally overturning the ceasefire agreement

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, saying it was striking dozens of Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January. Palestinian officials reported at least 44 deaths.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in ongoing talks to extend the ceasefire. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The surprise overnight attack shattered a period of relative calm and raised the prospect of a full return to fighting in a 17-month war that has killed over 48,000 Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions about the fate of the roughly two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.
In a statement, Hamas condemned what it called Israel’s “unprovoked escalation” and said it had put the fate of the hostages in jeopardy.
There was no immediate US reaction. But over the weekend, US envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been leading mediation efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, warned that Hamas must release living hostages immediately “or pay a severe price.”
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas’ military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks. The official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said the “gates of hell will open in Gaza” if the hostages aren’t released. “We will not stop fighting until all of our hostages are home and we have achieved all of the war goals,” he said.
Explosions could be heard throughout Gaza, and Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 44 people were killed in the new wave of airstrikes. The territory’s civil defense agency said its crews were having a difficult time carrying out rescue efforts because various areas were being targeted simultaneously.
Talks on a second phase of the ceasefire had stalled
The strikes came two months after a ceasefire was reached to pause the war. Over six weeks, Hamas released roughly three dozen hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in a first phase of the ceasefire.
But since that ceasefire ended two weeks ago, the sides have not been able to agree on a way forward with a second phase aimed at releasing the nearly 60 remaining hostages and ending the war altogether.
Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to resume the war, and early this month cut off the entry of all food and aid deliveries into the besieged territory to put pressure on Hamas.
“This comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators,” Netanyahu’s office said early Tuesday.
Taher Nunu, a Hamas official, criticized the Israeli attacks. “The international community faces a moral test: either it allows the return of the crimes committed by the occupation army or it enforces a commitment to ending the aggression and war against innocent people in Gaza,” he said.
Gaza already was in a humanitarian crisis
The war erupted with Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, cross-border attack, which killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel responded with a military offensive that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90 percent of Gaza’s population. The territory’s Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and militants, but says over half of the dead have been women and children.
The ceasefire had brought some relief to Gaza and allowed hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to resume to what remained of their homes.
But the territory is coping with vast destruction, with no immediate plans to rebuild. A resumption of the war threatens to reverse any progress made in recent weeks toward halting Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.
The return to fighting could also worsen deep internal fissures inside Israel over the fate of the remaining hostages. Many of the hostages released by Hamas returned emaciated and malnourished and described harsh conditions in captivity.
The released hostages have repeatedly implored the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining hostages, and tens of thousands of Israelis have taken part in mass demonstrations in recent weeks calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.
Since the ceasefire in Gaza began in mid-January, Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians who the military says approached its troops or entered unauthorized areas.
Still, the deal has tenuously held without an outbreak of wide violence. The ceasefire’s first phase saw an exchange of some hostages held by Hamas in return for the freeing of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate the next steps in the ceasefire.
Israel wants Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas instead wants to follow the ceasefire deal reached by the two sides, which calls for negotiations to begin on the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, in which the remaining hostages would be released and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.
 

 


Iran-backed Houthis claim third attack on US ships in 48 hours

Iran-backed Houthis claim third attack on US ships in 48 hours
Updated 53 min 2 sec ago
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Iran-backed Houthis claim third attack on US ships in 48 hours

Iran-backed Houthis claim third attack on US ships in 48 hours
  • A senior Hamas official told Reuters on Tuesday that Israel is unilaterally ending the Gaza ceasefire agreement

SANAA: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a third attack on an American aircraft carrier group in 48 hours, calling it retaliation for US strikes.
The Houthis said in a Telegram post that they targeted the USS Harry S. Truman carrier group with missiles and drones, making the attack the “third in the past 48 hours” in the northern Red Sea.
 

 


Tunisia says 612 migrants rescued, 18 bodies recovered at sea

Tunisia says 612 migrants rescued, 18 bodies recovered at sea
Updated 18 March 2025
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Tunisia says 612 migrants rescued, 18 bodies recovered at sea

Tunisia says 612 migrants rescued, 18 bodies recovered at sea
  • Tunisia has in recent years become a key departure point in north Africa for migrants making the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing in hopes of reaching a better life in Europe

TUNIS: Tunisia’s national guard said on Monday its forces had rescued 612 migrants and recovered the bodies of 18 others in several operations overnight off the country’s Mediterranean coast.
Sharing images of some of those rescued, including women and children, after their boats capsized, the force said they were all migrants from sub-Saharan African countries attempting to cross the sea to Europe.
The survivors were rescued in several operations in the Sfax region to the east of the center of the country after their boats capsized or broke down, according to the national guard.
Exhausted people including women and children, some of whom appear to be dead, can be seen in the images. Some are pictured clinging on to large buoys.
In another image, a woman struggles to hoist a child, his body rigid and apparently lifeless, aboard the rescue boat.
Maritime guard members “succeeded in thwarting several separate attempts to reach Europe clandestinely,” the national guard said in a press release.
Along with Libya, Tunisia has in recent years become a key departure point in north Africa for migrants making the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing in hopes of reaching a better life in Europe.
Its coastline in some places lies fewer than 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the Italian island of Lampedusa, often their first port of call.
Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing.


Rights advocates urge Morocco to annul activist’s prison term

Fouad Abdelmoumni. (AFP file photo)
Fouad Abdelmoumni. (AFP file photo)
Updated 18 March 2025
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Rights advocates urge Morocco to annul activist’s prison term

Fouad Abdelmoumni. (AFP file photo)
  • The signatories said the sentence was part of a “repressive policy” by governments across the region, “aimed at silencing any voices advocating for freedom of expression, respect for human rights and democracy”
  • Prosecutors argued that his statements constituted “allegations harmful to the kingdom’s interests” and went “beyond the limits of freedom of expression, amounting to criminal offenses punishable by law”

TUNIS: Nearly 300 rights advocates and experts from countries in North Africa and France have signed a petition calling on Morocco to free activist Fouad Abdelmoumni, sentenced to jail for “spreading false allegations” online.
Abdelmoumni, a human rights advocate, was sentenced in early March to six months in prison for charges related to a post he had shared on Facebook, alleging that Morocco had spied against France.
A petition, which by Monday has gathered 295 signatures, said that “Abdelmoumni should have been prosecuted under the press code, which does not provide for prison sentences. But he was charged under the penal code.”
He would be taken into custody “if the verdict is upheld” by an appeals court, said the petition shared on Abdelmoumni’s Facebook page.
The signatories said the sentence was part of a “repressive policy” by governments across the region, “aimed at silencing any voices advocating for freedom of expression, respect for human rights and democracy.”
They called for “the annulment of his sentence and the release of all political prisoners held in Morocco and other Maghreb countries.”
The signatories include former Doctors Without Borders president Rony Brauman, French-Tunisian historian Sophie Bessis, and Tunisian activists Mokhat Trifi and Sana Ben Achour.
In his Facebook post last year, Abdelmoumni echoed accusations of Moroccan espionage against France.
Prosecutors argued that his statements constituted “allegations harmful to the kingdom’s interests” and went “beyond the limits of freedom of expression, amounting to criminal offenses punishable by law.”
Abdelmoumni shared the post during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, which had marked a thawing of diplomatic ties between Rabat and Paris after three years of strained relations, partially over the espionage allegations.
In 2021, Morocco was accused of deploying Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to monitor prominent figures including Macron.
The allegations were based on a report by investigative outlet Forbidden Stories and rights group Amnesty International, which Morocco called “baseless and false.”
The spyware, developed by Israeli firm NSO Group, can infiltrate mobile phones, extracting data and activating cameras.
 

 


Lebanon and Syria agree to ceasefire after 2 days of border clashes, defense ministry says

Lebanon and Syria agree to ceasefire after 2 days of border clashes, defense ministry says
Updated 18 March 2025
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Lebanon and Syria agree to ceasefire after 2 days of border clashes, defense ministry says

Lebanon and Syria agree to ceasefire after 2 days of border clashes, defense ministry says
  • Lebanon’s president earlier Monday ordered troops to retaliate against source of gunfire from Syrian side
  • Fighting happened after Syrian government accused Hezbollah militants of crossing border

BEIRUT: Lebanese and Syrian defense officials reached an agreement late Monday for a ceasefire to halt two days of clashes along the border, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported.
The agreement also stipulates “enhanced coordination and cooperation between the two sides,” the statement from the Syrian Ministry of Defense said.
Lebanon’s president earlier Monday ordered troops to retaliate against the source of gunfire from the Syrian side of the border after more deadly fighting erupted overnight along the frontier. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that seven Lebanese citizens were killed and another 52 injured in the clashes, including a 4-year-old girl.
The fighting happened after Syria’s interim government accused militants from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group of crossing into Syria on Saturday, abducting three soldiers and killing them on Lebanese soil. Hezbollah denied involvement and some other reports pointed to local clans in the border region that are not directly affiliated with Hezbollah but have been involved in cross-border smuggling.
It was the most serious cross-border fighting since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.
Syrian News Channel, citing an unnamed Defense Ministry official, said the Syrian army shelled “Hezbollah gatherings that killed Syrian soldiers” along the border. Hezbollah denied involvement in a statement on Sunday.
Information Minister Paul Morkos said Lebanon’s defense minister told a Cabinet meeting that the three killed were smugglers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said five Syrian soldiers were killed during Monday’s clashes. Footage circulated online and in local media showed families fleeing toward the Lebanese town of Hermel.
Lebanon’s state news agency reported that fighting intensified Monday evening near Hermel.
“What is happening along the eastern and northeastern border cannot continue and we will not accept that it continues,” Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said on X. “I have given my orders to the Lebanese army to retaliate against the source of fire.”
Aoun added that he asked Lebanon’s foreign minister, who was in Brussels for a donors conference on Syria, to contact Syrian officials to resolve the problem “and prevent further escalation.”
Violence recently spiked in the area between the Syrian military and armed Lebanese Shiite clans closely allied with the former government of Assad, based in Lebanon’s Al-Qasr border village.
Lebanese media and the observatory say clans were involved in the abductions that sparked the latest clashes.
The Lebanese and Syrian armies said they have opened channels of communication to ease tensions. Lebanon’s military also said it returned the bodies of the three killed Syrians. Large numbers of Lebanese troops have been deployed in the area.
Lebanese media reported low-level fighting at dawn after an attack on a Syrian military vehicle. The number of casualties was unclear.
Early on Monday, four Syrian journalists embedded with the Syrian army were lightly wounded after an artillery shell fired from the Lebanese side of the border hit their position. They accused Hezbollah of the attack.
Meanwhile, senior Hezbollah legislator Hussein Hajj Hassan in an interview with Lebanon’s Al Jadeed television accused fighters from the Syrian side of crossing into Lebanese territory and attacking border villages. His constituency is the northeastern Baalbek-Hermel province, which has borne the brunt of the clashes.
Lebanon has been seeking international support to boost funding for its military as it gradually deploys troops along its porous northern and eastern borders with Syria as well as its southern border with Israel.
Speaking from the southern border on Monday, UN envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert also warned the Security Council that the sustained presence of Israeli forces on Lebanese territory, alongside ongoing Israeli strikes, could easily lead to “serious ripple effects.”
On Monday, Israeli strikes hit several sites in southern Syria, including in the city of Daraa. The Israeli military said it was hitting “command centers and military sites containing weapons and military vehicles belonging to the old Syrian regime, which (the new army) are trying to make reusable.” Since the fall of Assad, Israeli forces have seized territory in southern Syria, which Israel said is a move to protect its border.
Syria’s Civil Defense said that three people were killed and 14 injured in the strikes, including four children, a woman and three civil defense volunteers.