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Lebanon and Syria Agree on Ceasefire After Deadly Cross-Border Clashes 

Syrian troops take position in the village of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali, located 2 km (1.24 miles) from the Lebanon border, Syria, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP)
Syrian troops take position in the village of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali, located 2 km (1.24 miles) from the Lebanon border, Syria, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP)
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Lebanon and Syria Agree on Ceasefire After Deadly Cross-Border Clashes 

Syrian troops take position in the village of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali, located 2 km (1.24 miles) from the Lebanon border, Syria, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP)
Syrian troops take position in the village of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali, located 2 km (1.24 miles) from the Lebanon border, Syria, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP)

Lebanon's Defense Minister Michel Menassa and his Syrian counterpart Murhaf Abu Qasra agreed on a ceasefire, the Lebanese and Syrian defense ministries said in statements on Monday, as cross-border clashes in the last two days left 10 dead.

Three soldiers in Syria's new army and seven Lebanese were killed in border clashes during the past two days, the Syrian defense ministry and Lebanese health ministry said.

On the Lebanese side, 52 people were wounded, the health ministry said.

The Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers also agreed on continuing contacts between the army intelligence directorates to prevent more deterioration on the border.

The mountainous frontier has been a flashpoint in the three months since opposition factions toppled Syria's Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Tehran and Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and installed their own institutions and army.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's Foreign Affairs Minister Youssef Raji met his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani in Brussels to discuss the cross-border developments and agreed to maintain contacts, the Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.

Late on Sunday, Syria's defense ministry accused Hezbollah of crossing into Syrian territory and kidnapping and killing the three members of Syria's new army. Hezbollah denied any involvement.

A Lebanese security source told Reuters the three Syrian soldiers had crossed into Lebanese territory first and were killed by armed members of a tribe in northeastern Lebanon who feared their town was under attack.

Syrian troops responded by shelling Lebanese border towns overnight, according to the Syrian defense ministry and the Lebanese army.

Residents of the town of Al-Qasr, less than 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) from the border, told Reuters they fled further inland to escape the bombardment.

Lebanon's army said in a statement on Monday that it had handed over the bodies of the three killed Syrians to Syrian authorities, and that it had responded to fire from Syrian territory and sent reinforcements to the border area.

Syria's army sent a convoy of troops and several tanks to the frontier on Monday, according to a Reuters reporter along the border. Syrian troops fired into the air as they moved through towns on the way to the border.

"Large military reinforcements were brought in to reinforce positions along the Syrian-Lebanese border and prevent any breaches in the coming days," said Maher Ziwani, the head of a Syrian army division deploying to the border.

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Arab World

Will Lebanon Be the Biggest Loser After the Ceasefire?

Smoke rises after an Iranian missile is intercepted over the Sahel Alma area in Mount Lebanon. (Reuters)
Smoke rises after an Iranian missile is intercepted over the Sahel Alma area in Mount Lebanon. (Reuters)
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Will Lebanon Be the Biggest Loser After the Ceasefire?

Smoke rises after an Iranian missile is intercepted over the Sahel Alma area in Mount Lebanon. (Reuters)
Smoke rises after an Iranian missile is intercepted over the Sahel Alma area in Mount Lebanon. (Reuters)

Political sources in Beirut warned Lebanon could emerge as the biggest loser when the current regional war ends, outlining their concerns to Asharq Al-Awsat.

Lebanon is heading toward a severe internal crisis, the sharpest in its modern history with the dispute centering on Hezbollah’s weapons.

The majority of Shiites in the country insists on keeping them, while most other segments say Lebanon’s survival depends on implementing government decisions to limit arms to the state, in line with Lebanese, Arab, and international positions.

The sources noted that Hezbollah has again entered a regional war it cannot influence, risking burdens Lebanon cannot bear.

Hefty price

The war is proving costly for those involved and for countries hit by its spillover.

A ceasefire would likely show Iran suffered heavy damage to its defense, industrial sectors, and infrastructure, potentially setting it back decades. But its size, energy resources, and experience with economic hardship may help it manage the aftermath, unless losses destabilize the system.

Iranian missiles are expected to have caused damage to Israeli institutions and infrastructure, despite a high interception rate. The cost of interception is steep, but Israel appears ready to absorb it, calling the conflict an existential war and relying on strong US support.

Lebanon will struggle the most. Its economy is already near collapse. The country faces a catastrophic situation, with about one million displaced and heavy destruction along the border with Israel.

Israel has said it intends to establish a “buffer zone” inside Lebanese territory, signaling a return of occupation to parts of the country “pending guarantees for the safety of Galilee residents.”

The most dangerous scenario is that Israel’s campaign on the Lebanese front continues even if a ceasefire is reached between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other.

The fallout is worsened by a deepening rift among Lebanon’s components, raising the risk of internal conflict.

The role of parliament Speaker Nabih Berri appears diminished as the conflict widens. The current crisis over the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador reflects a deeper divide between the Shiite camp and others over weapons, the war, and Lebanon’s regional role.

Hezbollah described the expulsion as a “sin”, demanding that the government reverse it.

‘Impossible to coexist’

Voices are rising in Lebanon, warning that it was “impossible to coexist” between a “quasi-state” and a “Hezbollah’s statelet.”

Countries that once backed Lebanon’s reconstruction, especially in the Gulf, are now focused on their own losses from Iranian attacks. They have also made clear that they will not help unless the Lebanese state takes full control over decisions of war and peace.

The sources reiterated their warning that Lebanon risks being the biggest loser, especially if Israel expands its ground offensive and internal divisions deepen to the point of questioning the country’s very formula of coexistence.

Arab World

Netanyahu Says Israel Is Expanding ‘Buffer Zone’ in Lebanon

Smoke billows from an Israeli strike on Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. (AFP)
Smoke billows from an Israeli strike on Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. (AFP)
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Netanyahu Says Israel Is Expanding ‘Buffer Zone’ in Lebanon

Smoke billows from an Israeli strike on Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. (AFP)
Smoke billows from an Israeli strike on Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that his country's forces were expanding a "buffer zone" in southern Lebanon as the military pressed ahead with its campaign against Hezbollah.

"We have created a genuine security zone preventing any infiltration toward the Galilee and the northern border," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

"We are expanding this zone to push the threat from anti-tank missiles further away and to establish a broader buffer zone."

Netanyahu said that dismantling Hezbollah "remains central" to Israel's objectives in Lebanon.

"It is connected to the broader confrontation with Iran," he said.

"We are determined to profoundly transform the situation in Lebanon," he added.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Arab World

Strike on Western Iraq Kills Seven Security Personnel

Members of Iraq's PMF carry the coffin of the PMF operations commander for Al-Anbar, Saad Dawai alongside others during a mass funeral in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
Members of Iraq's PMF carry the coffin of the PMF operations commander for Al-Anbar, Saad Dawai alongside others during a mass funeral in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
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Strike on Western Iraq Kills Seven Security Personnel

Members of Iraq's PMF carry the coffin of the PMF operations commander for Al-Anbar, Saad Dawai alongside others during a mass funeral in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)
Members of Iraq's PMF carry the coffin of the PMF operations commander for Al-Anbar, Saad Dawai alongside others during a mass funeral in Baghdad on March 24, 2026. (AFP)

A strike on a base in western Iraq killed seven security personnel, the defense ministry said Wednesday, a day after an attack on the same base targeted the Popular Mobilization Forces.

"This resulted in the death of seven of our heroic fighters and the injury of 13 others," the ministry said of the strike in Anbar province, saying it specifically targeted the base's military healthcare clinic.

Rescue operations were ongoing, it added.

The base hosts Iraqi police, soldiers from the regular army and PMF, a security official told AFP.

It was hit by a deadly strike on Tuesday that the former paramilitaries blamed on the United States.

Iraq said late on Tuesday it would summon the US charge d'affaires and the Iranian ambassador after deadly strikes blamed on their countries, as Iraqi authorities granted the targeted groups the "right to respond".

Iraq has been pulled into the war sparked by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, and which has since engulfed much of the region.

Iraq has long been a proxy battleground for the United States and Iran, and has struggled to balance diplomatic ties with both countries.

Since the war began, pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups, including state-linked positions.

In the statement from the prime minister's office, however, Iraq granted former paramilitaries within the official armed forces the right to "respond to military attacks" by drones and aircraft that targeted their headquarters.