Since the seizure of Damascus by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on Dec. 8, 2024, thousands of Syrians have been killed across the country. Instead of confronting Israeli aggression and further land grabs in the nation’s south, Syria’s de facto President, Ahmed al-Shara’a, has directed his fire at Lebanon instead.

On March 17, fighters affiliated with the new Syrian security forces of HTS crossed into the Lebanese border town of al-Qasr, three of whom were captured by a local clan. News quickly spread that two of the militants were executed and a third seriously injured, prompting Syria’s leadership to order shelling and a military buildup on its side of the border. In retaliation, the Lebanese army deployed and responded in kind.

Saudi state-funded media outlets Al Arabiya and Al Hadathq quickly began promoting the claim that Hezbollah fighters had crossed the Syrian border, captured three members of Syria’s security forces and stoned them to death. This claim soon became the semi-official narrative out of Damascus.

Israeli media outlets echoed the claim, citing the same Riyadh-funded sources and framing the events on the Lebanon-Syria border as clashes between Hezbollah and the Syrian army. While no evidence exists to support these allegations, Hezbollah denied any involvement in what would be a counterintuitive operation that only serves to hinder its rearmament.

HTS militants in Syria are launching rockets and firing heavy machine guns at Lebanese border towns, targeting areas with no Hezbollah presence—only Lebanese Army positions and civilian homes. This reckless aggression threatens Lebanon’s sovereignty and the safety of its… pic.twitter.com/DguzhFlb4M

— Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber) March 17, 2025

That same day, HTS cross-border fire killed seven Lebanese citizens. It injured another 36 in the village of Hosh al-Sayyed Ali, located in the Hermel-Baalbek governorate and populated by Shia Muslims. Following a two-day exchange of fire—between the Lebanese army and local clans on one side and HTS on the other—a truce was reached. However, Syrian fighters again crossed the border, ransacking and occupying homes inside Lebanon.

These border clashes have been routine since the fall of the former Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, with the first exchange of fire occurring between the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and HTS. A Lebanese army soldier was injured on Dec. 26 when Syrian militants opened fire on a patrol in the Wadi al-Aswad area. Since then, militants affiliated with the Syrian security forces have routinely crossed into Lebanon and opened fire on predominantly Shia villages, prompting Lebanese clans to engage and expel them.

This also comes against the backdrop of ongoing sectarian bloodshed across the country—the most severe case occurring along the Syrian coast, where more than 1,000 civilians, mainly from the Alawite minority group, were reportedly killed within 72 hours, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The UK-based SOHR, historically aligned with the Syrian opposition to Assad, has nonetheless provided the most detailed lists of names for the thousands of Syrians killed from all groups across the country in recent months.

On a daily basis, there is a steady stream of reports from Syria of field executions committed against former Syrian army officers who were supposed to have been granted amnesty by the new authorities, as well as indiscriminate gunfire injuring children in the Idlib province.

The new HTS-led Syrian security forces have failed to halt the sectarian killings, kidnappings and blood feuds—often participating in the violence themselves. Instead of resisting the ongoing Israeli occupation of southern Syria, Damascus has turned its guns on dissidents, disgruntled minority groups and Lebanese border villages while boasting about preventing weapons from reaching Hezbollah—to the great delight of the Israeli media.

BREAKING: HTS and Israel are targeting Lebanon simultaneously.
Video footage shows HTS forces targeting border towns in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley from the Syrian city of Al-Qusayr. At least one child has been killed and four others have been injured in the HTS attack. pic.twitter.com/pPdfKp1QVq

— red. (@redstreamnet) March 16, 2025

Simultaneously, as HTS mobilized and carried out repeated rocket attacks in the Beka’a Valley, Israeli airstrikes continued to target Lebanese territory. In addition, a series of Israeli raids in the southern Syrian city of Dara’a killed two civilians and injured dozens more, provoking no response from the authorities in Damascus.

Feature photo | Syrian troops maneuver in the village of Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali, located 2 km (1.24 miles) from the Lebanon border, Syria, March 17, 2025. Omar Albam | AP

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47

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