Israeli strike cuts main highway linking Lebanon with Syria

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Friday that an Israeli airstrike has cut a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria.

The agency gave no further details about Friday’s airstrike that led to the closure of a road near the Masnaa Border Crossing, from where tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks. It’s the first time this major border crossing has been cut off since the beginning of the war.

Lebanese General Security recorded more than 250,000 Syrian citizens and over 80,000 Lebanese citizens crossing into Syrian territory during the last week of September, after Israel launched a heavy bombardment of southern and eastern Lebanon.

Dama Post, a pro-government Syrian media outlet, said Israeli warplanes fired two missiles and damaged the road between Masnaa Border Crossing in Lebanon and the Syrian crossing point of Jdeidet Yabous.

Israel’s military said Friday its fighter jets struck an underground tunnel between Lebanon and Syria and areas around a key border crossing used by many in recent days fleeing Israel’s offensive.

Thursday’s strikes around the Masnaa Border Crossing effectively cut off the main highway linking Lebanon with Syria, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. Tens of thousands of people fleeing fighting in Lebanon have used crossing into Syria over the past two weeks.

The Israeli military said that its fighter jets had struck the 3.5 kilometer-long underground tunnel between Lebanon and Syria because Hezbollah has used it to smuggle weapons from Iran and other proxies into the country. It said it struck the sites around the Masnaa border crossing because they were being used as militant infrastructure.

There are half a dozen border crossings between the two countries and most of them remain open. Lebanon’s minister of public works said all border crossings between Lebanon and Syria work under the supervision of the state.

Hezbollah is believed to have received much of its weapons from Iran via Syria. The Lebanese group has a presence on both sides of the border where it fights alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.