In rugged terrain along the Syrian-Lebanese border, yellow bulldozers raised earthen berms in front of armoured vehicles while soldiers combed through tunnels they said were used by Hezbollah, as Syria reinforces its side of the border.
Syria is seeking to stay out of the regional war, whose flames have reached neighboring Lebanon, where Hezbollah is fighting a fierce conflict with Israel.
In rural Qusayr, Syrian soldiers showed an AFP photographer -- granted permission by the defense ministry to film the deployment for the first time since reinforcements were brought in a month ago -- several cross-border tunnels that the army has discovered in recent weeks.
Mohammad Hammoud, the official in charge of Syrian border posts facing Lebanon, told AFP the army discovered by "combing the border areas... a network of tunnels connecting the two countries that were used to smuggle weapons and drugs".
An AFP photographer saw at least five such tunnels, including one whose entrance was dug in the basement of a house, with concrete steps descending into narrow, dark passageways.
Other tunnels in the mountainous area were equipped with electrical wiring and ventilation systems.
In another house leading to a tunnel entrance, a picture of the late Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hung on the wall, alongside another of the late Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
A Syrian army field commander said Hezbollah used the tunnels.
The rural Qusayr area serves as a crossroads linking Syria's western Homs province to the Lebanese Bekaa Valley.
- Coordinating with Beirut -
It became a bastion of Hezbollah influence after the Lebanese group's intervention in support of former ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2013 during Syria's civil war.
Since Assad's ouster in December 2024 by an alliance of factions led by new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Hezbollah's supply lines from Syria have been cut off and the new authorities in Damascus say they are coordinating with Beirut to combat smuggling and to control crossings.
On March 28, Syrian authorities announced the discovery of a tunnel near a village in Homs province linking Syrian territory to Lebanon, saying that "Lebanese militias" used it for smuggling.
Israel has announced multiple times that it attacked border crossings, saying the aim was to prevent military supplies from reaching Hezbollah.
An AFP correspondent saw sites damaged by Israeli strikes, including destroyed buildings near one tunnel.
Nearby, Syrian soldiers were on foot patrol and one fighter stood watching a Lebanese army position from a distance.
On March 4, the Syrian authorities announced a reinforcement of the army on the border with Lebanon, deploying "armoured vehicles, soldiers, rocket launchers, and reconnaissance battalions to monitor border activities and combat smuggling".
The goal, it said, was "securing and controlling the border amid the escalation of the ongoing regional war".
According to a diplomatic source, "the Damascus government has been pressured to intervene in Lebanon to end (Hezbollah's) threat in the region, but it refused".
- No military action -
Syria dominated Lebanon for decades following a military intervention in the latter's 1975-1990 civil war, withdrawing only in 2005, making any new military involvement a fraught proposition.
But a Syrian military source told AFP on Wednesday that "the Syrian army has no intention of any military action, and its mission is currently limited to border control only".
Although Syria has not yet been dragged into the regional conflict, on March 10 Damascus accused Hezbollah of shelling Syrian army positions near Serghaya, west of Damascus.
On the same day, Sharaa and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, in a telephone call, stressed the need to "control the border" and prevent "any security breakdown".
Sharaa reiterated on Tuesday that his country wanted to remain out of the conflict, in a discussion with the Chatham House think tank during a visit to Britain.
"So long as Syria is not directly targeted by any party, it will remain outside this conflict," he said.
"Fourteen years of war in Syria are enough. We have paid a very heavy price, and we are not ready to go through a new experience."
