The Media Line: Syria Intercepts RPG Shipment Bound for Hezbollah Across Lebanese Border 

Syria Intercepts RPG Shipment Bound for Hezbollah Across Lebanese Border   

By The Media Line Staff  

Syrian security forces seized a shipment of rocket-propelled grenade shells on Wednesday intended for transfer into Lebanon after intercepting smugglers in the Damascus countryside. Officials described the operation as part of a broader campaign to dismantle smuggling into Lebanon, Asharq al-Awsat reports.   

According to the Interior Ministry, Internal Security Directorate units tracked the smugglers through sustained surveillance before carrying out a coordinated ambush in the border town of Serghaya, within the Zabadani region near Lebanon. The weapons were discovered and confiscated before being transferred to authorities.  

State media said the operation was linked to ongoing efforts to tighten control over border areas that for years functioned as supply corridors for Hezbollah during the rule of Bashar Assad. Since the collapse of the previous regime late last year and the near total withdrawal of Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters from Syrian territory, the new authorities have moved to shut down those routes.  

Security officials say the campaign targets not only arms smuggling but also narcotics trafficking and remnants of networks tied to the former regime. Western Qalamoun, which includes Zabadani and stretches toward the Bekaa Valley, has been a particular focus due to its geography and history as a transit zone.  

Regional sources familiar with border operations say Syrian forces now control most crossing points with Lebanon, though some clandestine routes remain active. They note that Hezbollah established weapons depots and supply tunnels in border regions well before 2011, many of them deliberately concealed. Syrian forces have located and destroyed a number of those sites, but officials believe additional caches remain undiscovered.  

Authorities say recent seizures point to attempts by Hezbollah operatives to move weapons out of Syria following losses sustained during last year’s fighting with Israel. Security services have accused sleeper cells of trying to retrieve stockpiles from hidden depots and move them across the border.