Hezbollah Running Secret Prison Near Syria's Palmyra

Hezbollah and Syrian flags flutter on a military vehicle in Western Qalamoun, Syria August 28, 2017. (Reuters)
Hezbollah and Syrian flags flutter on a military vehicle in Western Qalamoun, Syria August 28, 2017. (Reuters)
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Hezbollah Running Secret Prison Near Syria's Palmyra

Hezbollah and Syrian flags flutter on a military vehicle in Western Qalamoun, Syria August 28, 2017. (Reuters)
Hezbollah and Syrian flags flutter on a military vehicle in Western Qalamoun, Syria August 28, 2017. (Reuters)

The Lebanese Hezbollah party has recently set up a new secret prison in Syria, revealed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Director of the UK-based monitor Rami Abdul Rahman said the facility was set up west of Palmyra city in Homs' eastern countryside in central Syria.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat this was not the first such prison set up by the Iran-backed party.

It had established such prisons in the Qalamoun region, including one in al-Qusayr city near the Lebanese-Syrian border.

The facility is overseen by Hezbollah loyalists recruited from among the local population.

Fighters combating Hezbollah and detained in regions controlled by the party are held at these prisons, said Abdul Rahman.

The party refuses to turn them over to the regime, contrary to previous occasions when detainees were released in exchange for money.



Israeli Military: 5 Soldiers Killed in Combat in South Lebanon

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Israeli Military: 5 Soldiers Killed in Combat in South Lebanon

Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, as seen from Haifa, northern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 16 others wounded in combat in southern Lebanon in recent weeks, the Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday.

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said in a speech aired Wednesday that the Lebanese group is open for ceasefire negotiations only once “the enemy stops its aggression.”

His speech marked the 40-day mourning period since former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in Beirut.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,000 people have been killed and some 13,600 wounded in Lebanon, the Health Ministry reported.