Israel says will strike Lebanon-Syria border crossing

The Israeli military
said on Saturday it would strike an area near the main crossing between Syria
and Lebanon, urging residents to evacuate immediately as it continued its
attacks across Lebanon.
Israel has carried out
strikes across Lebanon and launched a ground invasion in the south since March
2, when Hezbollah entered the war in the Middle East on the side of its backer
Iran.
"Due to
Hezbollah's use of the Masnaa Crossing for military purposes and smuggling of
combat equipment, the (Israeli army) intends to carry out strikes on the
crossing in the near future," said the military's Arabic-language
spokesman, Avichay Adraee, urging people to leave the area.
A Lebanese security
source at the Masnaa border crossing told AFP they were "currently
evacuating the crossing following the Israeli threat".
In Syria, the General
Authority for Borders and Customs public relations director, Mazen Aloush, said
the crossing, known as Jdeidet Yabous on the Syrian side, was "exclusively
for civilian use and is not used for any military purposes".
Aloush added that "in
light of the circulating warnings and out of concern for the safety of
travellers, traffic through the crossing will be temporarily suspended until
any potential risks subside".
An AFP journalist on
the Syrian side of the crossing said early Sunday it was empty, with only a few
guards remaining.
Masnaa is the main crossing between Lebanon and Syria, making it a vital trade
route for both countries and a key land gateway for Lebanon to the rest of the
region.
Israel struck the
crossing in October 2024, during its previous war with Hezbollah.
The crossing remained
closed until Lebanese and Syrian authorities began repair works after a
ceasefire the following month.
Strikes on Tyre
In a statement,
Lebanon's health ministry said a strike on Maaraka, near Tyre, killed five
people and wounded one.
In previous statements,
the ministry reported that an Israeli strike on Habbush killed at least two
girls and wounded 22 people, while a strike on al-Hawsh near the coastal city
of Tyre wounded 18, including a child, three women and three paramedics.
The strike on al-Hawsh
also damaged a nearby major hospital, according to the ministry.
The director of the
Lebanese Italian Hospital told the state-run National News Agency (NNA) that it
would "remain open to provide the necessary medical care" despite the
damage.
Tens of thousands of
people have left Tyre, but around 20,000 remain, including 15,000 displaced
from surrounding villages, despite Israeli evacuation warnings covering most of
the city and a swathe of the south.
Hours after the attack,
the Israeli military struck three buildings in and around Tyre it had warned
people to evacuate, according to the NNA.
The NNA also reported
strikes across across the country and local media reported that Israeli jets
repeatedly broke the sound barrier over several parts of Lebanon, with AFP
journalists hearing distant booms in Beirut.
An Israeli strike on a
cafe near the Qaraoun lake, on the reaches of the West Bekaa portion of the
Litani river, wounded several people according to the NNA.
'Unacceptable' attacks
The Israeli army on
Saturday told residents of Kfar Hatta in southern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of
strikes on the town, causing heavy traffic as people escaped according to
videos shared online.
The Israeli military
earlier announced on Saturday the death of a soldier who "fell during
combat in southern Lebanon", the 11th killed since the army began ground
operations in the country.
It also said it struck
"more than 140 Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure targets" over the
previous two days.
After attacking a
bridge in the West Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon on Friday "to prevent
the transfer of reinforcements and military equipment", Israel hit it
again on Saturday, destroying it completely, the NNA said.
West Bekaa is right
above Lebanon's south, where Israeli ground troops have been advancing.
Hezbollah claimed
responsibility Saturday for a series of attacks on northern Israeli towns and
Israeli troops in southern Lebanese towns near the border, particularly Marun
al-Ras, Hula, Ainata and Bayada.
The war has displaced
upwards of a million people in Lebanon and killed more than 1,400 people in the
country, including 54 medics and three Indonesian UN peacekeepers in the south.
On Saturday, a UN security
official told AFP that Israeli forces destroyed 17 surveillance cameras linked
to UNIFIL's main headquarters in Naqura.
The UN peacekeeping force has been caught in the crossfire in southern Lebanon since the start of the war, with Hezbollah launching attacks on Israel and its troops, and Israeli forces pushing into border towns.
















