Lebanon’s General Security Directorate said Friday the country is closing all land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus.
The decision by the security agency in charge of border crossings came hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged the Arida border crossing with Syria in north Lebanon, days after it was reopened.
“Border crossings will be closed until further notice for the safety of travelers,” the General Security said in a statement posted on X.
It said that the only border crossing that will be kept open is Masnaa in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.
Lebanon’s state news agency said Friday the airstrike on the Arida crossing caused heavy material damage and cut the road.
The Israeli military said fighter jets attacked the border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, adding that they were used to transfer munitions for Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Separately, Jordan’s Interior Minister al-Frayeh said Friday the Naseeb border crossing with Syria had been closed because of the security situation on the Syrian side.
He spoke after Syrian opposition activists said opposition groups had captured the main border crossing with Jordan, forcing the Syrian authorities to leave.
Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist based in France who covers events in southern Syria, told The Associated Press that local gunmen have captured the Naseeb crossing as well as several other areas in the southern province of Daraa where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
Syrian troops have evacuated checkpoints in several areas including the villages of Inkhil, Nawa and Jassem, he added.
Separately, Israel’s military said in a statement it planned to reinforce its forces stationed in the Golan Heights and near the border with Syria.
The statement said it was “monitoring developments and is prepared for all scenarios, offensive and defensive alike.”
Meanwhile, Syrian opposition fighters entered the central towns of Rastan and Talbiseh early Friday just north of the central city of Homs, bringing them closer Syria’s third largest city, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media both reported. The break came a day after opposition gunmen captured the central city of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest.
After 13 years of civil war, Syrian opposition are gaining ground, first taking cities in the country’s north and on Friday entering cities in central Syria.
It comes as opposition groups mount new challenges to Russia- and Iran-backed Syrian forces, including in Aleppo, the country’s largest city. Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has intermittently struck areas in Syria seen as strongholds of Hezbollah, the Lebanese group it is at war with in Lebanon.
The advances of the Syrian fighters adds new instability on Israel’s northern border, two months after it invaded neighboring Lebanon. Israel’s defense minister and military chief of staff met to discuss the situation Thursday.
Israeli media reported there is concern in the country’s security establishment that the opposition fighters would advance until they reached the Golan Heights, territory occupied by Israel, gaining control of Syrian weapons stockpiles along the way.
Writing in the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahoronoth Friday, veteran military correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai wrote that Israel may “prefer” to destroy the weapons storehouses so they won’t fall into the hands of the fighters.
Israel seized control of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. Syria has constantly accused Israel of launching attacks against it from territory it occupies in the Golan Heights. Israel has frequently struck Syria over the years.
